The Secret Lives of Decepticons
by Ghost of the Dawn
Summary: Takes place after "Autobot Files". Being a Decepticon isn't easy, but what do they do with themselves when they aren't fighting Autobots and trying to subjugate the population?
1. Exhibition

Thank you to everyone who has supported my series thus far. Especially those who took the time to send me comments at the end of the Autobot Files. You are the main reason this first part came out so quickly. So thank you. Every comment is so very much appreciated when you take time to talk to me about my story.

The Secret Lives of Decepticons

By: Ghost of the Dawn aka Ty-Chou

Chapter One: Exhibition

Megatron waited. He wasn't well known for his patience, but he could exercise a great amount of self-control when it suited him. He felt very much suited for this.

There was nothing to do but wait. The entire Decepticon base was positioned and ready. The next move went to the Autobots. They would come as soon as they mobilized themselves; he knew it deep down in his spark. All he had to do was bide his time and they would come to him. How delicious it was to hold all the cards, to know all the answers! It was the specific kind of high Megatron relished. He was not interested in losing his position of advantage any time soon.

Megatron continued to wait, hashing out in his mind over and over what he would say when the time came and what he would do, trying to guess how his adversary would react. He could hardly wait, but he kept his patience firm.

Finally, after torturous cycles of sitting motionlessly in place at his command chair, he heard it: The warning klaxon for intruders reverberated through the base following the telltale shuddering of the structure as the enemies forced their way past the Decepticon guards. It certainly wasn't the first time the Autobots had ever infiltrated; they most likely knew their way by now. It would only be a matter of time until they reached the main command center and Megatron.

His mouth ticked up a bit at the thought. His orders to his forces had been to fight back, to engage the Autobots when they came, but not to take unnecessary damage. This wasn't about keeping the Autobots out, but to have them think they were trying to keep them out. Megatron wanted them to come. He wanted them to reach the very heart of the Nemesis.

He smiled a bit more as the sounds of battle grew closer. Prime was coming for him; he would be here soon. It was hard to stay patient, but Megatron remained seated, almost motionless. This was not the usual struggle for energy or power. This was something personal and had to be treated as such. The sounds of gunfire were growing ever louder. Warning alarms were sounding everywhere. Megatron's smile grew.

At last, the doors to the command center were forced open and Autobots spilled inside while others still fought to keep the Decepticons behind them at bay. Megatron sat in his command chair, his back to the door when they entered. He grinned.

"Megatron!" Optimus Prime called to him as he had done countless times before, voice filled with warning.

It was that voice that drew the biggest smile from Megatron behind his steepled fingers. He quickly forced the smile from his face and replaced it with a hateful sneer, even though he wasn't angry at all. Megatron swiveled his chair. He stood and glared down at the Autobot leader.

"You dare invade my sanctuary, Optimus Prime," he growled. "What is the meaning of this?"

"You know full well why we've come," Optimus shot back. "Your hostage, Megatron. We've come to retrieve her."

Megatron willed confusion to cross his features even though he knew perfectly well what was going on. "What are you talking about? I have no hostage, merely a whole swarm of intruders in my command room."

"Don't play with me, Megatron. Just tell me what you want for her. I'm willing to negotiate if you do it right now."

Megatron sat himself down, looking very put-out indeed. "A very tempting offer. Unfortunately I have no bargaining chip... unless you want Starscream, then he's all yours."

There came a shrill "I heard that!" from somewhere down the hall.

Optimus found it clear he wasn't going to get any more from Megatron unless the situation altered itself. He turned to his radio to contact the other teams around the base. "Jazz, report."

"No one in their brig, chief. All the cells are empty."

"Prowl?"

"Mid levels are a negative."

"Lower levels clean," reported Hound.

"Security system has no record," radioed Smokescreen. "No visual on security tapes, no record of any extra body entering the base."

Megatron was almost giddy at the report. It was too good indeed, but he continued to scowl and pretend to lose his temper. In reality, he could have watched Optimus Prime stand there foolishly all day.

"Are you quite done now? You have ruined my base and damaged my soldiers without provocation. Or is there something else you would like to scrap before you vacate?"

"I'll scrap your face, you fragging waste of metal!" Sunstreaker roared as he lunged for Megatron.

Several Autobots had to hold him back, including Optimus Prime.

Megatron allowed himself a shadow of a smirk at that point. "Decepticons," he radioed to all his troops. "See the Autobots out. Their business here is finished."

While Megatron had specifically told his soldiers to use restraint to let the Autobots in, he offered no such leeway once the Autobots were on their way out. The second the invitation was offered, the Decepticons swarmed in full-force and attacked with all the determination that comes from defending one's home base. The Autobots had no choice but to retreat.

Megatron remained seated, his finger scratching at the armrest. He was well aware he had chosen to deviate from his usual pattern. This was going to be an interesting ride.

It took a while to sweep the full Autobot army from all the Nemesis' many levels, but finally Soundwave gave the all-clear that there were no longer any enemy signatures in the base. Megatron acknowledged him and then called for a full damage report. As expected, several quadrants were now flooded with seawater. It would be a while before they were repaired and flushed out. It was time to get to work.

Unfortunately, the repairs for anything that wasn't an urgent crisis happened slowly on the Nemesis. There were plenty of able mechs who knew how to make themselves useful. The problem was that not many took the initiative to do so. Not even the Constructicons would, unless specifically ordered to. All fancied themselves warriors and builders of great structures and masterpieces. None were happy when they were subjected to the tasks of maintenance bots.

In this case, his troops were even less happy to have convenient corridors flooded with seawater, so it was a group effort to at least put the Nemesis back to its original shoddy, but dry, state.

It took the Decepticons three days to repair the damage the rampaging Autobots had done to both the outer walls and inner systems a few more vengeful individuals felt the need to destroy. It was two more days before Megatron gave Soundwave the green light to start sniffing out any equipment the Autobots had installed or hidden during their infiltration. Megatron did this on purpose. He wanted the Autobots to at least get a glimpse of them going on with business as normal before cutting them off completely.

It was another week before Soundwave was certain every bug, chip and listening device had been found and destroyed and every spyware virus had been removed from the computer systems. Then Megatron decided they would go out for an energy raid. After the attack, they were quite low.

He made sure it was swift and stealthy. He knew the Autobots were still sore from coming back from their infiltration empty-handed. His suspicions were confirmed when the Autobots caught them at the tail end of their raid. The Autobots hit so fast and hard the Decepticons had no choice but to pull out right away. Several Autobots took extra steps to go after them far more vengefully than they ever had.

Yes, there was still a very sore spot there. Megatron was pleased. Even after the energy raid, Megatron waited another week. He kept a close eye on the Autobots to see what they would do, looking for any sign they were plotting another attack on the base, but it seemed the Autobots were lying low and watching him. They were waiting for Megatron to make his move and reveal his hand.

It was very foolish of them and Megatron couldn't help but sneer whenever he thought about it. Little did they know he had already made his move and his move was to do nothing. It left the Autobots powerless to retaliate and he felt triumphant leaving them so helpless. All because Megatron chose this time to exercise patience. Yes, he could be very patient indeed when it suited him.

It had been three weeks since the Autobots attacked the base. The Decepticons continued their usual business as if nothing was amiss, as was ordered of them. Megatron sat in his usual command chair, weighing his options. He showed he knew other ways to wage war, he showed he had immeasurable patience. Megatron decided he had been patient enough.

He hit the radio button on his command chair. "Soundwave," he hailed. "Bring it to me."

* * *

It was a very curious sensation when she was first brought online. It didn't feel like waking up from a dream-- she was already standing when her optics flipped on. It was as if she caught herself walking in her sleep. The rest of the world had gone on without her and she had stayed the same.

It was somewhat like when she came back online after Ratchet repaired her, but this time, there was no Ratchet and no repair bay. The first thing she saw was a great, dark hand moving away from her face. It held a black object which had been removed from her forehead. The owner of the hand passed the object down to a small grey and purple bug-like robot with a "Good work, Bombshell," spoken in a gravelly voice.

Crystal was still figuring out what was going on. Her processor instantly tried to grasp onto her last memory to try to piece together what had happened. Tracks popped right into her mind. She recalled the ambush and the damage that had been inflicted on him. She remembered trying to help him and then being grabbed and dragged away. That black object was slapped onto her forehead and then, nothing.

Now she was awake again and in a very strange place. It was dark with dismal, dirty walls and poor light. She looked around the large room to find it occupied by several bots, all much, much larger than she was. All staring right at her. All Decepticons.

Her knees almost went out from under her from the shock of it all. A heavy hand grabbed her shoulder to keep her standing. Crystal looked up at the face, a grey mask and a red optic band. More than any other she had seen, this one seemed all robot without any life in it. Even the hand that held her, while warm to the touch, had something cold within it.

"You, look at me," said the gravelly voice whose tone demanded her immediate response.

Crystal whipped her head around to the massive grey Decepticon looming over her. He seemed to suck up all the extra space around her with his size. His fierce features scowled at her, intelligent red optics taking in every inch.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yes," Crystal said in a small voice. She fought to sound calm, but it came out weaker than she meant to.

He leaned in even closer, Crystal could almost see her reflection in his optics. "Who am I then?"

Crystal wondered if she should venture flattery, but she stayed truthful and to the point. "You are the Decepticon leader."

"What's my name, small one?"

"Megatron... sir."

He straightened, looking pleased. "Good. And what are you?"

Crystal balked a bit, not only at the bluntness of the question, but because it was a question she had often asked herself without finding an answer. She knew she had to say something. This Decepticon looked like he was accustomed to getting an immediate response when he spoke.

"I don't really... my name is Crystal."

Megatron was suddenly in her face. "I didn't ask for a name! I asked you what you are!"

Crystal tried to block out the smirks and snickers of the other Decepticons. "I... don't really know how to answer that."

Megatron was still frowning. "Who built you?"

"The Autobots did." It was certainly truthful enough.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

The dark blue one who had her shoulder let her go so Megatron could circle and appraise her from all angles.

The mention of the Autobots got Crystal wondering about them. Where were they? Did they know what happened? Did they know where she was? Were they coming for her?

She didn't even know how much time had passed since her initial capture. It could have been a few hours, a few days or even a few weeks. She had no way to tell how long she had been out of it or what had transpired in the meantime. She could only assume it hadn't been too long. Villains could never wait to toy with their hostages. Likewise, the heroes would waste no time orchestrating a rescue. The Autobots would come for her soon. She trusted them. So she tolerated Megatron's scrutinizing gaze as he walked around her, confident this situation would not be a permanent one.

"What did you do on the Autobot base?"

"Um.. I fixed a lot of things..."

"Things?"

"Lights, doors, equipment. I did work in the med bay..."

Megatron actually snorted. "So you're a maintenance bot."

Despite the scoff in his voice, Crystal didn't mind the title at all. "Yes, that's correct."

"So they built you to help maintain their base."

"Oh, sure."

"Lovely call, Megatron," Starscream chided from behind. He was the only other Decepticon Crystal could identify by name. "You caught yourself nothing more than--"

"Shut up Starscream or get out," he barked.

That quieted the other Decepticon immediately.

Crystal wanted to smirk, but she didn't dare.

Megatron turned his attention back to her, his optics taking her form in time and time again like he was trying to figure out a puzzle.

"Who do you report under?"

"Either the chief medical officer or the chief engineer, depending on who needs me."

Megatron shifted his jaw as he tried to think of a new question.

"You were built on Earth."

"Yes."

"Recently?"

Crystal knew already it would not be wise to mention anything about being human. Decepticons didn't like them and it would do her no good to disclose that information. "I was built... perhaps 5 or 6 Earth months ago."

"Ah, so you're a newling. Interesting." Megatron rubbed his chin some more.

Crystal knew he was fishing for something, she just wasn't sure what. Maybe Megatron didn't know either.

"So why build you in the likeness of a femme?" The Decepticon leader mused.

"Hey maybe the Autobots are getting lonely!" called a Decepticon. He looked like Starscream but had darker coloring. Crystal had seen him before her abduction. He had some sort of power to appear out of thin air.

The comment resulted in cackling from other Decepticons and even Megatron had to smirk. He took her chin firmly between his thumb and forefinger. His hand was massive. He could have palmed her whole head if he wanted to.

"So how about it little one?" he asked as he ran his thumb suggestively over her bottom lip. "Do they use you for... anything else?"

Her optics widened and she tore away from his grasp. "No they don't!"

Though anger showed on her face, it was fear that suddenly ripped through her at Megatron's question, a very human fear that has jumped into the mind of any woman to ever find herself captured by a group of men. Beside the natural question of whether the Decepticons would try to rape her, there was the question of if they could or how would they do it. She still had a lot to learn about their culture, especially when it came to the dynamics between males and females.

If these massive Decepticons tried to force themselves on her, how would they attack and what would they be trying to get out of it? More importantly, how could she prepare herself it case it happened?

"So you just... repair things," Megatron surmised. And yet the Autobots sent their full force to retrieve you.

He didn't say that last part out loud, otherwise he would be breaking his own orders. The Autobot's rescue attempt was not to be mentioned under any circumstances, not even by himself. It was all part of the plan.

"You are of no other use to them at all?"

Crystal squinted at the question. She was starting to get an idea of what Megatron was digging for. He was trying to figure out just how valuable she was to the Autobots. If she was something they really cared about he could use her as a bargaining chip against them. She knew beyond a doubt they would take great pains to protect her if they had to. Crystal wasn't going to let Megatron have that opportunity if she could help it.

"I'm afraid that's it. I just do the grunt work so they don't have to."

"So you just stay inside all safe and don't see any battle."

"Nope, I just clean up. Nothing special."

"So when I saw you fighting with my Nightbird, that was, as you put it, cleaning up."

Crystal stopped. The way he said my Nightbird, as in Megatron's property, and she had helped to break it? That was not a good sign at all. "That was..."

"Perhaps a demonstration is in order to show us how you clean up," Megatron's grin was cruel now. Whatever was cooking in his processor was not going to end well for her.

"Well?"

Crystal suddenly felt very helpless under his gaze.

"Well, what?"

Megatron placed that massive hand of his behind her back and effortlessly slid her reluctant frame into the center of the room.

Crystal had no idea what he was doing, but she didn't like it. Every bit of common sense told her she was in trouble. All she could do now was stand cluelessly in the middle of a room full of Decepticons. She fervently hoped the Autobots would come soon.

"Let's see," said Megatron next to her as he surveyed the room. "Thundercracker, Ramjet and... Starscream."

"What do you want, Megatron?" was the instant response from the latter.

"Let us see how well this maintenance bot is built."

Crystal wanted to ask what the Decepticon leader meant by that statement. However, she got her answer soon enough. The Decepticons whooped and hollered in excitement as they closed a tight semi-circle around her and the three Decepticons named. Crystal recognized this layout. They were forming a ring, one part being the wall. This was meant to be a fight and she was definitely the underdog.

"No weapons, you three," Megatron commanded. "We need to keep it fair." He smirked at the end, knowing full well there was no fairness found there.

Crystal tensed as she sized up her opponents. There was no evidence of a rescue yet. She would have to try and stay alive until the Autobots could come for her. Two of the three Decepticons sent against her were advancing. Behind them, Starscream didn't even look interested in coming after her. The smaller grey one, while still bigger than Crystal, looked like he was spoiling for a fight. The larger, light blue one was also advancing, but with a neutral, dutiful expression on his face as if he were just going about business as usual.

Crystal knew her chances for losing were high, even facing off against just one. Three made it near impossible. What she would have to do to get the best advantage is take on one at a time if she could. The grey one called Ramjet would have to go first since he seemed the most aggressive. She reminded herself she was fighting a robot and not a human as she looked Ramjet over for any weakness. No cheap shot between the legs was going to turn the tables on this fight. She had to be smarter.

The Decepticons in the crowd were cheering and hollering while Megatron watched from on high in his command chair. Ramjet, egged on by their voices, moved in front of the one called Thundercracker, blocking him out of the way.

"Leave it to me, 'Cracker. I got this."

Thundercracker didn't seem to mind. While he didn't look at the whole thing with distaste like Starscream was, he didn't look like he enjoyed fighting for no reason either. Especially against one so small.

Ramjet, however, had no such qualms. Crystal was familiar with this type of fighter. He wanted this fight and he wanted to take her down himself. He wanted the roar of the crowd all for him. She could work with this.

Since he was the larger opponent, he would expect her to run. His kind always assumed he was on top before the fight even began. She would use that against him to catch him off-guard. Instead of backing up from the looming Decepticon, Crystal charged at him. Instead of issuing a full frontal attack, she surprised him even more by sliding on the ground as if she were stealing home base, away from the hands that tried to grab her. That put her feet right next to the wing panel jutting out from his leg.

She kicked it once, twice, as hard as she could. She didn't look very strong, but she still had her joint enhancements in place. The second kick snapped the panel clean off and she scrambled away with it before Ramjet could grab her. The blocky Decepticon, while stronger than she was, had a slow robot mode. He tried to turn around to get her, but Crystal turned right around with him to stay behind the safety of his back. With the broken wing panel, she slashed at the exposed joints at the backs of his knees. It took a few good slices. The two did a kind of dance in a circle as Ramjet tried to turn fast enough and Crystal tried to stay behind him.

Finally, Ramjet fell to the ground, one knee joint completely blown out and the other badly damaged. His legs were utterly useless.

"You slagging piece of scrap!" he screamed at her and his own uselessness. "Damn you to the smelter you--" He was so mad, he couldn't even finish. He wasn't sure what to call her anyway.

The roar of the crowd went higher. Apparently the wounding of one of their comrades-in-arms was great entertainment for them. They were cheering and jumping around, but it wasn't for Crystal's sake. Thundercracker now took his turn to step in and Crystal knew he would be more difficult to beat. Not only had he already seen her in action on his fellow Decepticon, but he had something Ramjet lacked: the presence of mind not to get excited by the crowd and the patience to watch her before deciding on a plan of attack. That combination was deadly and Crystal knew it. She would have to try a whole different bag of tricks with him.

The two circled each other. Crystal made sure to stay out of his reach. If he got a hold of her he could, and would, probably just break her right in half. And boy, wouldn't this blood-happy crowd just love to see that! Who knew how they would react if she actually came out of this brawl on top? Crystal forced her thoughts not to get ahead of her. She needed to focus.

Thundercracker kept circling. He was sizing her up as she did the same to him. Each was trying to figure out their first move and, unfortunately, Crystal was not going to be underestimated by this one. He was taking it seriously.

That was when Crystal noticed the Decepticon had already found the upper hand. Most of the ring was composed of Decepticons who would move as the fighters moved, but Crystal suddenly realized she was being herded to the wall. Thundercracker was trying to corner her. She had to get out or he would have her pinned and the fight would be over.

In a move that was mostly desperation, Crystal attempted a maneuver that she would never have been able to complete if she were still human. She turned and ran full speed toward the wall, using it to propel herself vertically several steps before rebounding off into a back flip over the Decepticon coming at her. She barely cleared Thundercracker's tall air intakes by mere centimeters and her landing was not, by all accounts, the most beautiful landing she had ever managed.

There was no time to worry about form. The second her feet touched the ground, she whirled around and solidified her stance. Thundercracker spun around as well and Crystal gave him no time to figure out what was going on. That glass cockpit on his chest was level with her optics and she shoved both hands through it as hard as she could. They shattered the glass and rammed through the thin metal plating to the meticulous network of systems that were housed underneath. Crystal wrapped her fingers around as much of it as she could before she felt Thundercracker grab her shoulder.

He lifted her off the ground and acted as if he were going to yank her out, then realized what damage that would do to himself if he did. Crystal stubbornly held onto his inner workings. If he wanted to rip her away, he would be doing just as much harm to himself.

"Primus," she heard the Decepticon mutter as he tried to figure out this situation he found himself in.

The crowd was roaring. They were quite enjoying the show.

At least I entertained someone before I go,Crystal thought to herself. This stalemate was all she could think of against someone like this. She wouldn't last much longer against him if she let go and she knew it.

"Let go," Thundercracker growled, shaking her a bit.

Crystal responded by slowly pulling out one hand, taking everything she had a hold of with her.

The shaking instantly stopped. Thundercracker definitely wasn't a fool. It wasn't worth the damage he would incur just for this little exhibition.

Crystal was trying to figure out what to do next when she felt a horrible stinging in her back as she was shot. It did little more than scorch her armor, but the energy from the blast seemed to race through her entire system, through her muscle cables and energy storage, completely draining everything. The strength ran from her legs and she began to collapse, her hold on Thundercracker loosening. She fell to the ground, leaving his insides mostly undamaged. His curious face looming over her was the last thing she saw before all the power drained from her and she went offline.

The crowd booed, not so much at her, but at the cheap shot that ended their fun. Starscream, who had made no moove to join the fight the enitre time, now stood a few paces away, smoke wafting from the barrel of his null ray. He turned and then looked up at Megatron, his expression indicating that this was the most tasteless display he had ever seen and he was happy to end it.

Megatron frowned, but allowed the event to end and ordered the damaged Decepticons to be repaired.

* * *

Soundwave's corner of the base housed Crystal's inert body for the time being. It was a combination of shared quarters for the cassettes and a workshop for whatever random project Megatron saw fit to give him. It was the safest place for their new prisoner. It kept the body away from more curious Decepticons who would have dismantled her the second Megatron's back was turned. Megatron wasn't sure he could allow that just yet.

There he stood over the lifeless, magenta body, optics dark and limbs askew in the same position she had been tossed in a while ago. It didn't seem to bother Soundwave at all to have the body lying on one of his tables while he continued with his other projects.

Megatron's optics roamed over the small form as he went over her interrogation in his processor. He was overlooking something. Either the strange creation was lying to him or Megatron hadn't been asking the right questions, but he felt he was missing something important. If that something put him one step ahead of Optimus Prime, he would put forth the effort to uncover it.

The body was little damaged from the fight. It was only offline due to Starscream's null ray. A good shock of energy and a recharge would fix it just fine.

"Soundwave," Megatron called. He took one last look at the body before walking away. "Get that thing operational, I'm not done with it yet."


	2. Captivity

The Secret Lives of Decepticons

Chapter Two: Captivity

Consciousness came like a jolt of electricity, for that was precisely what was needed to get her body started again. Crystal sat up in a flash, recovering far more quickly than the last time. She quickly looked around, finding that she was no longer in the command room. She was in a smaller area, full of tables and tools that had all earmarks of a lab or workshop. Workshops were normally an interesting and pleasant place to be for Crystal, but as a prisoner, she realized that having all those tools around could mean they were planning to use them on her.

She tried to escape the table, but a heavy hand pinned her down. This made her reflexively want to fight more, but a robotic voice told her firmly, "Cease action," and she instantly froze. She didn't care for that voice at all. It frightened her.

The Decepticon held her there as he pulled a cord from her back and then closed her up. He let go of her and Crystal used the opportunity to scramble off the table and as far away as possible. Back against a far table, she looked around wildly for other Decepticons. This Decepticon seemed to be the only one in the room. She began trying to figure out how to get past him, planning what she would do if he suddenly attacked.  
The blocky, dark blue Decepticon seemed unconcerned by her plotting and turned his back to her to fiddle with a device on one of his other tables. Crystal wasn't sure why he wasn't trying to do anything to her, but she wasn't going to complain. While his back was turned, she inched her way along the wall toward the door, keeping her optics on him in case he changed his mind.

There was something about him she really didn't like. Something about him was too robotic, even for a living robot. He seemed to lack the malice and aggression of most of the Decepticons, but that didn't mean he had any compassion. From her first impression, Crystal felt he could either rip her apart or let her be and not feel differently about it either way. That type of psychosis did not comfort her at all. She needed to get away from him.

He still wasn't looking at her, so Crystal continued to move quietly to the door. She was almost there when the Decepticon addressed her in his toneless voice.

"Stop."

Crystal froze, realizing that he had been paying attention to what she was doing.

"Sit."

There was a chair right next to her. Crystal sat obediently.

The Decepticon kept fiddling with his projects, not looking at Crystal. Her optics drilled holes into his back. What were his plans for her? What were Megatron's plans? Why was she here instead of a prison cell or something? She had no idea what was going on.

"How... how long have I been here?" she ventured to ask. Getting a timeline would be a good way to start assessing her situation. That is, if she got an answer.

"Time, not important," he responded.

Crystal frowned. She didn't like being told what was and wasn't important. "What's... your name?"

"Designation: Soundwave."

Well, that was something, at least. When the Autobots found her, she wanted to be able to give the most detailed report of her adventures that she could. "What are you going to do with me?"

Soundwave still hadn't looked at her. "Your reactivation: Megatron's orders. Now wait for further orders."

So, Megatron wanted her back online for whatever reason. She was just supposed to sit there like a good little girl and wait for him to come and get her? Not if she could help it.

Crystal didn't ask any more questions; instead she kept her attention both on the door and on the Decepticon called Soundwave. He obviously wasn't the brightest crayon in the box if he thought he didn't need to watch her. She couldn't wait for Megatron. What if he pitted her against five Decepticons next time? Or ten? What if he made her keep fighting until she was torn limb from limb before the Autobots could get to her? She had to try and do something for herself to at least meet her rescuers halfway. Relying completely on someone else just wasn't in her personality. She had to try.

Once Soundwave seemed entirely engrossed in his project, Crystal made her move. Swiftly and silently, she rushed the door. If he didn't hear her move, he likely heard the door hiss as it opened. Crystal didn't wait to see his reaction. She rushed out the door as quickly as she could go and she did not look back.

Immediately outside the workshop lay a long corridor stretching in either direction. One side was well-lit, the other plunged in darkness. Crystal chose the latter path and ran off into the dark, hoping it would buy her some time to come up with a plan. She figured if the Autobot base had an air duct system, the Decepticon base must as well.

As she ran, she scanned the walls using her night vision. She saw nothing up top, but there was a grate on the floor. Good enough. Quickly, she yanked out the grate and dropped into the air duct. In the back of her mind, she wondered idly why there weren't any alarm systems sounding her escape. Maybe the Decepticons didn't have alarms, or communicated them by radio. Either way, she hoped to be well-hidden by the time they mobilized to find her.

Falling several feet, Crystal discovered that she had not stumbled into an air system, but a drainage system. She landed up to her ankles in murky, black water.

"Oh gross," she whined as a shiver of disgust ran through her body.

The tunnel was small. She had to crawl on her hands and knees in the sludge to get through the tunnels. If she were able to smell, Crystal was sure it would be most rank in there. The water was absolutely rancid, gritty and cold. If she made it out in one piece, she was going to steal the Autobot's shower for an hour at least.

It was pitch dark, silent. Nothing but more darkness snaking ahead and the dripping sound of water. After a while, the tunnel forked. One way continued straight while the other led straight above her. Crystal took the shaft going up, happy to both be able to stand and get out of the murky drain. She climbed up slowly, arms and legs spread on each side. She climbed for what felt like several stories before she reached anything. It appeared the Decepticon base was more vertical while the Autobot's base had only one level. Interesting...

Crystal shook herself. She had to focus until she got out of there.

The very top of the shaft led to another grate in the floor. Crystal waited for a few moments, listening to see if she could hear anyone in the room. All seemed quiet. As soundlessly as she could, she lifted the grate and climbed out, still dripping a bit on the floor.

Looking around, Crystal guessed that she had entered some kind of control or surveillance room. It was covered nearly wall-to-wall with screens and consoles and other equipment similar to what the Autobots had in their base. Her mood brightened. While she still wasn't an expert, she knew how to use this equipment. This could be very helpful, indeed. She was so excited, she didn't stop to think about how the Autobots NEVER left a room like this without someone watching it.

Crystal went to one of the main panels and tried to bring up a map or schematic of the base so she could figure out where she was and find the nearest exit. What she found was a command to open the hanger doors. It sounded good enough to her so she agreed to it.

Right away, the entire room began to move upward like an elevator, leading the startled Crystal to hang onto the console to keep her balance. She hadn't expected that at all. If the Decepticons didn't already know where she was, they would know now. However, if the base was underground and the hanger had to rise for the Decepticons to get out, it was her only chance of freedom. She prayed for it to rise faster and open so she could get herself out of there.

After several horrible seconds which seemed far too long, the room stopped and the wall to her right rose up. A long platform slid out into the sunlight.

Crystal's spirits rose. Sun! She was free! She raced so fast for the platform she almost skidded off the end before she realized there wasn't any solid ground beneath her.

"What the--"

Below, the platform was nothing but the churning, ice cold ocean. On the horizon, there was no land in sight. The base had not been hidden underground, it was sitting on the bottom of the ocean. A sudden wash of horror flowed over her. She was trapped.

"Well, well, well. A very interesting escape attempt, indeed." It was Megatron's voice. She recognized it easily now.

"Son of a bitch," Crystal said to herself.

She turned around to face Megatron and his entourage of various Decepticons as they all grinned at her.

"You see," Megatron continued. "I had a tracking device installed in you so I know where you are and where you have been at all times."

Crystal glanced down at her body, she couldn't even tell where she had been opened up for the installation. That hardly seemed fair at all.

"I allowed you this escape attempt," Megatron continued, "to show you I don't have to guard you to keep you in the base. That is, unless you think you're built well enough to withstand the ocean and you can figure out which direction is land. But I believe we both know your chances of success are very slim."

Crystal's hands remained at her side. She did not move, but it was obvious she had given up the fight. She did not yet have a death wish, to take on the roaring sea when there was still a chance of rescue. At least she could say she gave it her best shot. If she could say that, she could be satisfied for now.

"Good," Megatron nodded in satisfaction at her submission. "I see you're already plenty filthy from your.. excursion."

There were a few snickers from the other Decepticons. Crystal had forgotten how dirty she had gotten from crawling around in the drains.

"You're in the perfect condition for the job," Megatron insisted. "Come."

He turned, fully expecting her to follow him. That left Crystal with two options: jump to a possible death or go back inside. One of the Decepticons stood in the entranceway, watching her, curious to see what she would do. Starscream. He looked as though he wanted her to jump just to see what would happen.

But Crystal had already decided. She walked back inside the base, past the staring Starscream as the door closed behind her. Once closed, the control room slowly lowered back beneath the waves. Crystal could feel Starscream's optics burning into her shoulder. She stood with her side to him, her optics trained on nothing but Megatron's back, trying so hard not to turn to look at him. He was standing so close to her, his girth and height swallowing all the space around her, staring at her as if he were trying to suck information from the atmosphere.

When the control room hit its destination, a door opened and Megatron stepped out. Crystal was right behind him, eager to get away from that intense stare. To her relief, Starscream did not follow.

Megatron led the way down a hall, Crystal right at his heels and Soundwave behind her, perhaps just to make sure she didn't bolt again. Not that it would do her any good at this point.

They traveled deeper into the base, every hall looking like the last: dank and dingy. They rounded a corner and Crystal saw an open doorway, well-lit inside. It was the workshop she first woke up in. They took her all the way back to where she'd started and down toward the pitch black hall where Crystal first slipped into the drainage system.

"This hallway is in terrible need of repair, maintenance bot," Megatron told her. "Fix it." He purposefully left out the fact that it was the Autobots who had torn into the hall in the first place.

Crystal stared stupidly down the dark corridor, surprised at the order.

"Soundwave will show you the tools you may use. I suggest you don't disappoint me." Megatron turned on his heel and marched out of the area.  
Crystal stood there for a moment longer, looking down the dark hall. To her right was a light switch and she flicked it on to get a better view of her task. One light instantly exploded upon being activated. Another flickered dimly near the back of the hall. The rest stayed black.

She slumped at the thought of the task presented, wishing she had the ability to sigh. She very much wanted to.

A large shadow moved behind her. It was Soundwave. He was almost swallowed completely by the darkness with his coloring. He pressed a button on the wall and the door to a small utility closet slid open and a little light pinged on inside. Located within were various tools used to clean up and repair. The fact that the closet and tools looked as though they had never been used did not build confidence for the task at hand.  
Soundwave turned from her without a word and retired back to his quarters/workshop. He left the door open. Neither he nor Megatron seemed concerned at leaving her by herself again. After all, what could she do?

Without any other option, Crystal pulled the flashlight from the closet to better inspect the damage. Aside from needing new lights, the hallway still had puddles of filthy seawater stagnating all over the place. It was going to be a monumental project.

Walking back up the long hallway to get the required equipment, Crystal noticed something skulking in the dim light ahead: a pair of sharp, red optics, smaller than a normal Decepticon's and extremely low to the ground. She shined her flashlight on it to reveal a growling, four legged animal. Crystal actually backed up. She hadn't expected that at all. The creature spat at her and then leapt back into the darkness.

She stared at the space where the creature had been for some time, wondering if the Decepticons knew they had such a thing skulking around their ship. Though if it didn't bother her, Crystal supposed she shouldn't be too concerned about it. There was a far larger task at hand.  
Just as readily as she had at the Autobot base, Crystal got to work, repairing, replacing and cleaning. In the Ark she used that time to clear her head and to think. Here was no different. She needed time to figure out her situation and what she could do about it. Her first thoughts were of anger and frustration. She couldn't get that triumphant smirk of Megatron's out of her mind. It really pissed her off how smug he was and how he made her work to taste that one little moment of freedom before slamming her back into captivity. She would show him. She wouldn't stay here forever.

Her thoughts wandered back to the Autobots. Again, she wondered where they were and what they were doing to try to save her. It had been a while. Even if there had been a failed rescue attempt, she thought she at least would have been aware of the Autobots trying to get within the area of the base. Maybe they didn't know where this base was. She was so stupid; she should have sent out an SOS from the command center while she was up there. Now she was angry at herself for thinking she could escape all on her own without any backup plan.

There weren't many options open to her except to try it again. However, if Megatron was telling the truth about a tracking device implanted in her, she would have to deal with that first. If she tried to sneak up to the control room for a second time, they would know she was up to something different and try to stop her. She would have to remove the tracking device first. That would require finding time and privacy to be able to look through her own inner workings to locate it. Once she was able to find and remove the device then she would only have one more chance to escape, that is, if she was still allowed to run free like she was. If they locked her up somewhere, it would be a different matter entirely.

The best course of action Crystal could see for herself at the moment was to lay low, pretend to be defeated, and gather as much information as possible. Only when she was absolutely positive she could fabricate a successful plan would she act again. In the meantime, she would work on getting the Decepticons to underestimate her as much as possible.

These thoughts consumed her mind, making the time pass without notice. Her determination was reflected in her rough scrubbing of the floor. She could do this. She just had to stay smart and stay on the alert for opportunities.

Something in the back of her mind told her it was time to be on alert right now as something large whistled through the air. Crystal jumped back just in time to avoid being kicked right in the head. The foot ended up colliding with her bucket of cleaning solvent and sent it flying through the air, solvent splattering every which way. Crystal stared down the dark hall where the bucket disappeared. A few seconds too late and that could have been her.

"Oops, sorry, maintenance bot. Were you using that?" The sarcastic voice had a tone reminiscent of a playground bully.

Crystal looked up to see two Decepticons standing over her. Unlike most of the models she recalled seeing, these two had car modes. One was yellow, the other deep grey and red. Both were grinning at her, looking as though they had just found their new source of entertainment.

"No," Crystal said neutrally as she stood. "And in fact, that's exactly where I wanted it. All the way down the hall."

The yellow one, Dragstrip, grinned. "We can put you down there with it, if you like."

"No thanks. I can walk myself. My legs aren't broken."

The grey one, Wildrider, suddenly shoved his palm into her chest, slamming her into the wall. "Not yet, they're not." He grinned.

Fear instantly ran through her, but there was also anger. She knew if she were to survive this, she needed to show that even though she was small, she still had fangs. Otherwise there would be many more kicked buckets and threats of broken legs.

Grabbing Wildrider's wrist in both hands, Crystal pulled out and twisted just as Ratchet had shown her. The entire hand of the Decepticon came loose and hung limply from several wires still attached to the arm. Wildrider quickly pulled away as if he had been bitten.

"What the frak is this?" he demanded.

"You little scrap heap, you'll pay for that," Dragstrip growled, pulling out his blaster.

Crystal froze. Was he serious, pulling a weapon on her?

"What's going on down here?!" a gravelly voice bellowed. In stepped the hulking form of Megatron from the shadows.

"This maintenance bot is causing problems," Dragstrip said, still pointing his blaster at her.

"I'M causing problems?!" Crystal retorted. "You attacked me!"

"Enough. Get out of my sight," Megatron told the two Decepticons, sounding as though he were used to their random acts of violence.

"Fine. Wasn't worth our time anyway," Dragstrip huffed.

"Look what it did to me!" Wildrider demanded. "I can't move my hand any more!"

Megatron looked at the limp hand, his face unreadable. Then he turned to Crystal. "Fix it. Now."

Frowning, Crystal walked up to the Stunticon, grabbed his hand and shoved it back in none too gently with a rough twist. The hand connected and the fingers were mobile again.

"Now get out," Megatron said.

The two Stunticons left, grumbling with promises of payback in their tone. She was probably going to have to watch out for them.

"As for you," Megatron then set his optics on her. "I had better see at least some form of improvement on this place or else."

Crystal actually smiled. "I'm afraid you'll have to save your 'else' for another day."

She flipped on the switch and every light flickered on beautifully one by one all the way down the hall. The walls and the floor were spotless.

Megatron managed to look mildly surprised at the unexpected progress.

"Please join me," Crystal said as she started down the hall.

She led Megatron to a door and pressed the button to open it. "I'm assuming you didn't even know this was here. It's an ammunition closet filled with missiles. Though I doubt many are useful now, they look like they've been here for quite some time. This place had a ton of water in it, too. I cleaned it as best I could, but I didn't dare touch the missiles. I don't have any experience with them."

Megatron mused over it. He was lucky none of this volatile equipment had gone off when the Autobots attacked. He would need to get the Constructicons on this immediately to properly salvage or dispose of these as needed. Even Megatron had to admit he had allowed the Nemesis to fall into horrible repair after it crashed into the ocean several Earth years ago. Though it was no longer useful as a battle ship, it still required a bit of pride to keep it running smoothly as their base of operations.

He looked down at Crystal. Perhaps this small, pink thing was not a key stepping stone in his war against Prime, but maybe this was a different kind of gift in disguise. It would be foolish not to take advantage of what he had at his disposal at least, one way or another.

"Ready yourself, small one," he informed her. "I will have other tasks for you momentarily."

If she had eyebrows, Crystal would have raised them. It was certainly a statement no one had ever made to her before. She wanted to ask him to define 'tasks.' Hopefully he just meant more repair work. She could handle that. Any requests for more personal favors she wanted no part of.

"Until then," Megatron continued, "you will stay in here." He motioned to Soundwave's workshop. "And you will not leave until I call for you. Do remember that I can track your whereabouts at any time. So if this request is too difficult to follow, I can place you elsewhere, somewhere where you will not feel tempted to leave. Am I understood?"

"Quite clearly."

At least he was being frank with her. Crystal appreciated that. The last thing she wanted here was surprises. She took herself obediently back into Soundwave's workshop and sat on the same stool as before. It already seemed like such a long time ago. It very well may have been at least 24 hours. She had been working for quite some time.

Megatron quit the room without notice and the door slid shut behind him. Crystal was sure she should feel grateful she was underestimated so greatly. She was neither in a cell nor being tortured for information. But this was such a strange setup, she really wasn't sure how she should be reacting to all of it.

She sat there for a moment in the empty area, listening to the silence as Soundwave stepped in from the other room. He paused when he saw her and Crystal wondered if Megatron bothered to inform him of his plans to use his personal space as her temporary cell. Whether or not it bothered him, Soundwave only looked at her for a moment before going about his business just as he had before. Crystal felt like she had jumped back in time to before she tried to escape and it was just all going to happen again. In fact, even the door was calling her, but this time, she chose to ignore it.

"Um.. is there any place where I can clean up? I'm a mess." She was still filthy from crawling in the drains. The mess had crusted over on her arms and legs, ignored while she worked.

Soundwave didn't say anything to her, but he nodded toward a drain and a faucet in the corner, similar to the faucet the Autobots had in their med bay.

Crystal went over and began to scrub off the grit gratefully. It was her first small pleasure in several days of bad luck. She savored it. So much so she didn't even notice the door open until she heard a voice.

"Aw, man! What's that thing doin' in here?"

Crystal turned to glance over the table to see who was at the door. She didn't see anyone.

"Megatron's orders: Prisoner stays until new objective," Soundwave responded to the invisible voice.

"That's a load of slag!" Came a second voice that sounded quite similar to the first. "Put it in Megatron's room!"

Crystal was scanning all around, trying to figure out where the voices were coming from.

"Down here, stupid!"

She looked down at her feet and saw two very small Decepticons, even smaller than Bumblebee. At first she thought they were surprisingly quaint. Then she suddenly recalled running into Decepticons this size before: when she was human and they had seemed a lot bigger.

For a brief moment, fear that they would recognize her ripped through her, fear that they would remember she was human. She had to remind herself a couple of times that they probably couldn't tell one human from the next and that she didn't look like her old self enough for anyone to recognize her. She should be okay.

"Hey! What's your problem?" demanded the red and black one. He talked a bit faster than the purple one. "I'll fix that staring glitch ya got. C'mere!"

Crystal jumped a bit when his arms transformed into pile drivers. That just made the little Decepticon grin wider.

"Oh, don't like that, huh? Well ya better get used to it because--"

"Rumble. Frenzy. Return."

Both Decepticons stopped and looked at Soundwave.

"Aw, come on. We're just having fun," the purple one insisted.

"Current activity: waste of energy. Return."

"Ugh!"

"Fine!"

Both jumped and transformed into familiar, rectangular disks. Soundwave opened his glass chest compartment and the two slipped easily inside, one after the other. Then the compartment was closed.

Crystal stared. That was something she had never seen before.

Soundwave then looked at her and motioned to the energon dispenser near the door. "Refuel required."

Crystal obediently walked over to get herself some energon. Right, couldn't have herself running low on energy if she were to turn into Megatron's personal servant and maid. At least they weren't starving her.

* * *

Ratchet sat on a cot in a very small room in the darkness. It was funny; while its owner lived there, he had never once bothered to go anywhere near it. Now that she was gone, this was where he spent his free time, hunched over with elbows on his knees and fingers laced in front of his chin, deep in thought. It just seemed like the proper place to brood.

Crystal had been missing for almost a month. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had already taken out most of her personal articles and stashed them in their own quarters for reasons known only to them. Their room was where they spent most of their time lately, which was very unusual for the active twins. Sunstreaker would blankly finger his metal etchings while Sideswipe plugged himself into Crystal's digital music player and listened to her song list over and over. Wheeljack had made the player for her not too long ago. It was basically an iPod for robots. They could plug it right into their audios to listen. Crystal had always loved her music.

Tracks would often join them after he was finally released from the med bay. It had taken two weeks to finish putting him back together. After he was brought back online, there had been a sulking anger in him that hadn't been there before. But then again, there were a lot of feelings around the base now that hadn't been before.

Helplessness was a universal feeling among the Autobots. They had been forced against a wall with no other options open to them but to wait. If Megatron still had Crystal, he would have used her as a bargaining chip by now. Since their raid of the Decepticon base, the Decepticons had only been seen on one energy raid and there had been no contact about any negotiations. It was a hard fact to face, but the most likely reason was that Megatron did not have a body with which to negotiate. Either Megatron had her killed right away or it was possible he really didn't know about her and his soldiers had done something to her. Neither theory lent itself to hopeful conclusions.

Making the situation worse was that it was nearly impossible to know for sure what had happened. A full attack on the Decepticon base was a huge drain of resources, so much energy and ammunition expended for one mission. Not to mention, there was hardly a single Autobot who came away from the first attack without injury. It just couldn't be done again without a guarantee they wouldn't come back empty-handed.  
There seemed to be no full recovery from the Decepticon base raid. Ratchet patched them all up the best he could, but he couldn't erase the scars of failure. Jazz had a superficial gash across his hood from the attack, scratching out the four painted on his chest. He insisted Ratchet not repair it.

"I need a reminder," he had said before leaving the med bay.

A reminder for what, Ratchet wasn't sure. He just knew Jazz spent a lot of time in the office he shared with Prowl these days. Bluestreak often went in there as well. The only one who didn't deviate from his usual daily routine was Prowl. No one bothered him about it. Everyone dealt with the loss in his own way.

But every Autobot knew this couldn't go on forever. There were already tentative whisperings through the base about holding a memorial service. However, not everyone was willing to give up hope of her survival yet. Holding a service meant they were letting her go. Crystal had not been one of them, but she had become a part of their lives in a short amount of time and they had felt how much she cared for them. That love was simply gone in a blink and it felt strange to go on without it. Not everyone was ready to come to terms with the fact that it might be gone forever.

"I thought I'd find you in here," Wheeljack said as he popped his head in.

Ratchet gave him a sidelong glance, but didn't say anything.

Wheeljack sat next to him on the cot. "I had to talk down the Dinobots again today. They were getting agitated. I don't think they really  
understand what happened."

"They understand," Ratchet said quietly from behind his laced fingers. "They just don't want to accept it."

Optimus Prime had deliberately left the Dinobots out of the loop when they attacked the Decepticons' base. While their muscle would have been helpful, they lacked the finesse to take on an underwater base safely. It would have been just as dangerous for the Autobots as the Decepticons to have them down there, and even more dangerous for Crystal, had she been there.

Still, Ratchet couldn't help but sympathize with the Dinobots. He was sure they felt quite cheated even though there was nothing they could have done.

Wheeljack was quiet for a while, fingers drumming idly on his knees. "You know Ratchet, you're in here every day. Do you want to--"

"No, I don't want to talk about it."

"I see."

No one of Ratchet's generation knew what it was like to be a creator of new life. That technology was lost from their culture eons ago. But he had played a hand in building the Dinobots, even if their faux sparks were created by a different scientist. He had also built Crystal's new body and granted her life where there would otherwise have been none. Like a creator, he had nurtured and taught and laughed with her.

Now the recipient of all that time and energy was gone and there remained very little proof that she had ever existed. That gaping hole where affection was once returned left a poignant pain in his spark for which Ratchet was not prepared.

The only other Autobot who would begin to understand how he was feeling was sitting next to him and Ratchet did not want to talk to him.

"Okay, Doc," Wheeljack finally said. He clapped the medic on the shoulder as he stood. "I'll ask again tomorrow."

Ratchet said not a word.

* * *

Megatron sat in his favorite command chair, listening to the beautiful solitude of the empty room. Over and over he went through his plan in his mind, often asking himself why he had done it in the first place. There was no great advantage for him or his cause. A mere maintenance bot wouldn't have any useful information aside from the Ark's internal layout, which Megatron already knew. He had been inside the base several times himself.

Still, the thought of owning this thing the Autobots had built gave Megatron the urge to smile. It may have been a bit petty, but he felt triumphant. Knowing something Prime did not brought him a certain pleasure. He could just picture Prime wracking his processor trying to figure out his plan. It must be killing him not knowing, for after all, only Prime would worry about some maintenance bot. He was such a fool.

If only he knew that while Prime was raiding the base, the body had been stashed inland in a smaller stronghold the Decepticons sometimes used for storage. It was all thanks to Soundwave, the true master of invisibility. He kept all operations hidden beneath the Autobot's systems. Even that gamble of letting the maintenance bot out on the ramp in the open air was taken care of by Soundwave. Had the thing been smart enough to radio for help, he would have dealt with that as well. Now their prisoner was broken and the Autobots were none the wiser about his new toy.

His. He liked the thought of that. Something that was Prime's was now his to do with what he wished. It didn't matter if it wasn't something important, it was the principle. He could work it until it gave out and then deliver the body back to Prime or dispose of it himself. He had to admit that more than anything else, he liked the idea of leaving Prime a riddle he would never know the answer to.

Yes, it would be his secret for all time. He liked that. Let Prime wonder for the rest of eternity. Let him grow frustrated and bitter and lost. Let him always remember that no matter what happens in the future, this time Megatron came out on top.


	3. Endurance

Author's Notes: I forgot to say this in chapter two, but I REALLY appreciate the reception the first chapter received when I posted it. Your comments really help fuel my writing. So those who have been leaving me comments lately, you're who to thank for me updating so quickly. Thank you very much for everyone's support.

The Secret Lives of Decepticons

Chapter Three: Endurance

Megatron's rules were simple: do what you are told, and do not enter the main command center without an escort. If Crystal followed those rules, she had nothing to fear... at least, not from him. The other Decepticons were a different matter entirely.

When Megatron came to retrieve her from Soundwave's care, she was happy to go. She didn't like sitting in a workshop with the quiet Decepticon that all but ignored her presence. It was eerie to be in there alone with him. Even if he was harmless to her, it was uncomfortable just to sit in a corner and watch him, not daring to do anything else.

Crystal jumped at the chance to get out to what she assumed would be a new cleaning and repair project. She was happy to clean for them until she escaped or the Autobots successfully removed her. Megatron's new task for her, however, wasn't another empty, dilapidated hallway. It was the base's rec room.

The second Crystal saw it, she instantly regretted her thoughts about Soundwave's workshop. She would have gladly gone back to it given the chance. This place was filthy. The floor was sticky with energon and broken cubes. It seemed when a Decepticon had drunk his fill, he would just shatter the cube on the floor or the wall. It even looked like the ceiling had been hit a few times. All the tables and chairs were disgusting and the dispenser was in bad need of repair.

The absolute worst part of it all was that the room was also full of rowdy Decepticons, still making a mess. Crystal did not want to be left in that room with any one of them, let alone a whole handful. She hoped Megatron would clear the place so it would be easier to get to work, but he did no such thing.

"I expect a vast improvement when I get back," was all Megatron said. He gave no orders to his troops informing them she had a job to do.

Crystal didn't even get a chance to ask him how long she would have until he returned. Megatron merely spun on his heel and he was gone, the door hissing shut behind him. Crystal and several Decepticons remained in the room. Only a few of them were looking at her, but it was apparent with the silence that they all knew she was there. That bastard Megatron was doing this on purpose. He was probably watching all this on a video camera right now.

Fully aware that most, if not all, attention was on her, Crystal skirted around the room, hugging the wall, trying not to look flustered by the situation. She couldn't let them know she was intimidated, though she doubted she was doing a good job of hiding it. Without having to look, she knew there were plenty of them eyeing her like fresh meat. At a glance, Crystal saw Ramjet was in the room. Now repaired, he did not look happy.

Someone shattered another energon cube on the ground and she jumped. There were chuckles behind her. Crystal tried not to heed them. She kept her gaze straight ahead of her to the back of the room, where she was sure she would find a cleaning closet. It would most likely be the cleanest part of the rec room.

She managed to make it to the back of the room where, unfortunately, most of the bulbs were broken so the light was less bright. The closet, however, was well-lit and its contents intact.

Crystal fought the urge just to jump into the closet herself and shut the door behind her. Oh, how she wanted to. She was no idiot. At least a few of those Decepticons were going to attempt to do something to her; she just didn't know who, what, or when. It was something she would just have to face. It would be worse to disappoint Megatron. More than anything else, she knew she had to keep the big man impressed. Hopefully, as long as he found her useful he would prevent the rest of his minions from doing anything too destructive to her.

This meant, like it or not, no closet hiding for her. She would have to face the mob and get the job done any way she could and hope for the best.

The first thing she reached for was the Cybertronian equivalent to a broom. Crystal turned around to get to work, but there was already a massive Decepticon standing right in her way. She jumped back, holding the broom handle between them like a spear. It was the other Decepticon she had fought, Thundercracker. Apparently he wanted his revenge for the fight first. Let him try. Crystal was ready.

Thundercracker, however, had other motives. He stepped forward, brandishing an arm at her. Crystal jumped back, but no attack came.

"Maintenance bot, my weapon is damaged," Thundercracker informed her in an even tone. "Repair it."

Crystal just looked at him stupidly. She wasn't prepared for that request.

When she didn't move, Thundercracker seemed to think a demonstration was required. He pointed the attached weapon and attempted to fire. A sparking sound came from the barrel, but nothing shot out.

"Repair it," he repeated again. The Decepticon turned to her again, presenting the arm with the damaged weapon.

Slowly, Crystal put down her broom and reached for it, hands shaking a little. She expected him to turn on her once he had her close. He was so tall, she didn't even come up to his shoulder. If he got hold of her, he could break her easily.

But the blue Decepticon did nothing as Crystal pulled a small, mechanical screwdriver from her hip compartment and removed a panel. She actually had quite a bit of experience with weapon repairs. At the Autobot base, weapons needed repair even more often than the Autobots themselves. It was quite easy to locate the problem, a few loose wires, and she tightened them and closed the panel.

"There. All done."

Thundercracker aimed at the wall and fired. His arm blaster shot beautifully now, leaving a scorch mark in the wall. Crystal frowned. She was going to have to clean that, too. But Thundercracker looked very pleased. He turned without any acknowledgment or thanks for the services rendered and walked out of the rec room. Crystal allowed her shoulders to relax slightly. At least there was one Decepticon who wasn't actively trying to give her a hard time.

No other Decepticon attempted to approach her. The closest one, a white and blue car type, didn't even seem to notice she was there. He was much too engrossed in a data pad. Crystal picked up her broom again to get back to work. She started sweeping in a corner where no one was sitting. Maybe if they saw she was just there to clean, they wouldn't bother her. Of course, she was wrong.

There was a shattering sound behind her. Crystal looked back toward a spot she had already cleaned. It was a Decepticon that looked like Ramjet, but was different colors. (What was with all the Decepticons looking alike?) He was painted dark blue with a smug grin that made Crystal want to tear it right off his face. At his feet lay a shattered energon cube, pink liquid seeping out of the remains.

"Oops, so clumsy of me," Dirge grinned. "Didn't you already sweep there?"

Crystal sighed inwardly. So this was the game they wanted to play. "No, no. It's fine. I'll get it when I come back around."

"Oh that's good," said another clone of his, this one painted deep red. "After all, we wouldn't want you to get in trouble with Megatron, now would we?" Thrust tipped over an entire table, spilling all the contents onto the floor.

"What are you going to do about it now, maintenance bot?" Ramjet, who was suddenly right in front of her, taunted her. Now he was getting his own revenge for the fight. Crystal suddenly felt ill-prepared for retaliation.

Ramjet stomped forward and Crystal scrambled backwards to get away. Dirge kicked over a chair behind her and Crystal tripped over it. Ramjet's hand shot out and grabbed her broom handle, catching her before she fell. Crystal teetered on her heel, holding on for dear life.

"You thought that was cute? The little trick you pulled in the fight?" Ramjet growled. "You fight like a coward."

His foot raced towards her. Crystal, who always chose falling on the ground over getting kicked in the gut, let go of the broom handle before Ramjet could kick her off it. She fell over the chair onto the floor on her backside, pride hurt but metal body unhurt.

But that just made Ramjet even angrier. He snapped the broom handle in half and threw the broken pieces at her. Crystal covered her face as she was hit.

"Wherever you go," Ramjet vowed. "I'm going to make your life hell. And when Megatron gets tired of you, I'll be there to toss you into the smelter myself."

"That is a gross waste of energon resources," said a calm, oozing voice in the doorway.

Ramjet looked up, annoyed that his threats were being interrupted. "Are you referring to me, Starscream?" he challenged.

The seeker regarded him coolly as he leaned against the door frame. "Actually, I was referring to all the energon you spilled on the floor. But now that you mention it, Ramjet, you _are _a waste of energy."

Ramjet immediately turned his aggression toward the confident air commander. "Watch what you say, Starscream. You're outnumbered here."

Thrust and Dirge came up behind him to further prove the point. Having three of them gang up on him did not please Starscream at all. He moved away from the door frame, a small frown on his face.

"If you enjoy wasting such energy as you please, you must have plenty to spare. I'll see to it your ration is cut in half. Then maybe you'll be more frugal with its expenditure."

Dirge and Thrust suddenly looked hesitant at the threat.

Starscream smirked. "Or perhaps the three of you could share a single ration since you seem to be of one hive mind. Megatron will be pleased to hear you are taking energy conservation so seriously. Wouldn't you three love to be in his good graces?"

All three were backing up now. Starscream was still ranked above them. His threats were not hollow and winning Megatron's favor wasn't worth starvation.

"Good," Starscream said approvingly as they were reminded of their place. "Now get out."

For a moment, the trio lost their fear again.

"You just can't order us to--"

"I said get out!" Starscream actually fired on them, nearly hitting Crystal once or twice before she dove under a table.

The three Decepticons danced around the null rays and then ran for the door. Starscream was happy to get out of the way of their retreat.

Crystal hardly dared to peek over the table to see what was going on. If he shot at his comrades, what would he do to her?

"You, too, Dead End," Starscream called to the quiet Decepticon still sitting by himself in the back of the room. "Out."

Dead End took his time making a dramatic display of gathering up all his things, but in the end he left without argument.

While he was leaving, Crystal crawled beneath the tables, hoping to get away from the seeker somehow. She hadn't gone far before she scuttled right into a blue foot.

"Get up," Starscream ordered her. His voice held no malice, but there was something about it that made her hop right to her feet.

"Sit." He pointed to a chair and Crystal obediently sat.

Starscream calmly took a chair at the same table across from her. "Since we have found ourselves a bit of privacy, I thought we could have a little chat."

Crystal tipped her head at him. Was he trying to be coy? What did he want?

"You know who I am?"

"Yes... You're Starscream."

"And I'm sure you heard all about me from Megatron," Starscream huffed.

Crystal shook her head. "From the Autobots."

"Really?" Starscream seemed pleased that they were talking about him.

Crystal didn't know what to do. His face was one that had haunted her nightmares since she first met the Autobots. Now she was sitting at a table with him, having a perfectly civil conversation. It felt surreal, far worse than any rabbit hole she could ever dream up.

Starscream was unaware of her personal dilemma and went right down to business.

"So tell me, why did the Autobots _really _build you?"

"I don't know."

Starscream frowned. "Megatron may believe that answer, but I don't. Do not withhold information from me. I have even less patience than he does for liars."

Crystal slammed her palms on the table. She was getting sick of personal threats. "I told you, I don't know! It's not like_ those Autobots _asked my permission first!"

Starscream's optics widened slightly at the outburst. He wasn't expecting that, the way she referred to the Autobots like she didn't consider herself one of them. Interesting.

"Are you angry at the Autobots because they never came to rescue you?"

Crystal didn't say anything, but it was obvious she was biting back some kind of remark.

"I don't blame them. It is quite a bit to risk for a mere maintenance bot. I'm sure they found it much easier just to build another."

"Well, I'm sure they can," Crystal shot back, voice full of spite and sarcasm.

Starscream had to fight not to grin. For once, he agreed with Megatron's plan not to tell this thing anything. This was fun.

"Well then, since you have found yourself in this possibly permanent situation, I would like to put a proposal on the table for you."

"What do you mean?" Crystal asked suspiciously.

"As you have just witnessed, most of the Decepticons here aren't going to leave you alone just because Megatron's keeping you as his little pet housekeeper for the moment. What you're going to need around here is protection."

"Your protection," she surmised, smelling extortion in the air.

"As Megatron's air commander I do have that power."

"And what do you want from me in exchange?"

Starscream went through the motions of pretending to realize that she might be able to do something for him, too. Crystal wasn't buying it. There was no way he was offering his services to her out of the goodness of his spark.

"There is one thing I can think of, just off the top of my processor."

"And that is...?"

Starscream grinned. "I want you to be my informant. Megatron is keeping you in Soundwave's quarters, a section of the base I have never successfully been able to bug. Megatron often speaks to Soundwave in there, telling him things he would never say around me. But he may say them around you."

"So you want me to spy for you, against Megatron?"

"Not so much like that," Starscream assured her. "Just... if you happen to hear or see anything useful, you pass that information my way. Just friendly, everyday chitchat, as friends."

Did that Decepticon just say friends? He wanted to be her friend? Right, like she believed that.

"What if Megatron finds out?" Crystal asked, her voice lower. "What if someone is listening right now?"

At that question, Starscream actually looked around the rec room to see if anyone was still around. He seemed to have a bit of paranoia in him, but schemers like him often did. While he did that, Crystal tried to digest his proposition. She had always been an upfront person. She had a hard time wrapping her head around this underhanded plan.

"What if I don't come up with anything useful to you?"

Starscream grinned. "You just tell me everything you see and hear and I will decide what is useful."

Crystal pressed her lips together. Plotting against Megatron with his air commander... was that wise? What if she were caught? That had to mean certain death right there. Then again, how long would she survive without Starscream's protection? One Decepticon had already voiced his threats openly and a few others had left theirs unspoken, but just as clear. She needed at least one friend in this place, even if he might stab her in the back himself when her usefulness was done. It was better than nothing at all.

"Fine. You prove to me you can keep me safe and I will see what I can do."

"Excellent." Starscream stood, looming over her and eyeing her in a manner that Crystal wasn't too comfortable with. "I will enjoy our partnership."

Crystal didn't reply. She was sure she would not.

"Well, I need to get to work before Megatron comes back. Need to keep him happy after all."

"I will leave you to it. In the meantime, I suggest you steer clear of the Constructicons. They like to disassemble and examine things."

Crystal stared at him. "Who are the Constructicons?"

Starscream was already headed out the door.

"Hey!" she called after him. "Who are the Constructicons?"

Starscream was gone, the door hissing shut behind him. Crystal frowned in the direction he was gone, her head still spinning. What had she done? She had made a deal with the bogeyman against the devil and his soulless, mechanical minion. Heaven help her.

Unfortunately, there was little time to worry about that now. She had to get back to work. She quickly retrieved the broken broom and went back to the supply closet. She pulled out a roll of what the Autobots had a Cybertronian word for... but basically, it was tape. They were both long strips with adhesive glue on one side. This was made out of different materials, but it was basically the same thing.

After taping the broom back together, Crystal swept in double time. Many precious minutes had been wasted dealing with Ramjet and his crew and then Starscream. She really had to pick it up to make up for time lost. When the sweeping was done, Crystal got out the mop and the cleaning solvent. She could just barely reach the splatters on the ceiling if she stood on a chair.

The burn marks Thundercracker put on the wall were exceptionally difficult to get out, but with the right mixture of solvent and a good scrubbing, Crystal managed to hide some of the damage.

Next, she wiped off all the tables and chairs and set them upright and in order. Then she cleaned the counter and mopped the floor. Next on her list was the energon dispenser. It was filthy and it spat out energon in clumps instead of pouring out a nice, even stream. She cleaned the outside and then disassembled the filter to clean it.

The energon it dispensed was watered down, just like in Soundwave's workshop. Weak at best, it was hardly of the quality the Autobots had. The Decepticons really were rationing their energy the best they could. Ratchet had told her that it was suspected their supplies were low. Apparently, he was right.

Crystal lay on her back with head and arms buried in the belly of the dispenser, trying to fix a leaky line. If they had so little, best to not waste even a drop. She paused in her work when she thought she felt something touch her foot. Crystal froze, listening to the stillness of the room. There was a curious clicking sound on the metal floor and another light bump to her foot.

She scooted out and looked for the cause. There was that same four-legged metal animal she had seen skulking around while cleaning outside Soundwave's room. It growled at her and Crystal scuttled away from it. Compared to her, it wasn't too big, but it still had teeth and it didn't sound friendly. It now had her backed up against the wall and the energon dispenser with nowhere to go. Crystal wasn't sure if she should try to get away or wait until it lost interest. She'd never had a lot of experience with animals... especially not robotic ones.

The animal lowered its head and pushed a round, metal object towards her and then growled again. Crystal leaned forward to see what it was. It looked like a ... bowl maybe? The creature nudged it again, looking pointedly at the energon dispenser, then at her, and growled some more.

Crystal looked from the dispenser to the bowl as her mind churned. "You want me to feed you?"

The animal growled some more, but didn't advance.

As closely as she dared, Crystal reached out and slowly snagged the bowl with the tips of her fingers. The creature just kept growling, but didn't try to bite or attack. She filled the bowl with energon and put it on the ground, instantly scooting away from it. The black and grey animal stuck its muzzle in the bowl and quietly drank. It didn't lap it up like a cat or a dog, it just sucked it up somehow.

While it was occupied, Crystal snuck off to get back to work. The room was almost completely repaired and she had not had any other Decepticons come in to harass her. She idly wondered whether that was Starscream's work as she checked each table and chair to make sure none of them wobbled or were broken.

After tightening a few bolts, Crystal decided to check on her four-legged friend, but the bowl was empty and the animal was gone. She hadn't heard it come in or leave; it moved like a phantom.

The rec room was finished and it looked great, and Megatron had yet to show up. The last thing Crystal did was clean the bowl and then stick it back on the floor behind the dispenser in case the animal came back and wanted it again.

Now she had to decide what to do. Should she wait for Megatron or should she go back to Soundwave? Megatron didn't specify what he wanted of her if she finished before he returned. Weighing her options, Crystal decided she was pressing her luck by staying in the rec room without anything to do. Other Decepticons would come in eventually and she didn't know if she was willing to put her safety 100% in Starscream's hands. Back to Soundwave's workshop it was. Megatron would know where she went. He had a tracker on her after all.

* * *

Back in the workshop, Crystal sat on her stool drumming her fingers on the seat. She felt like a trained monkey: go do a trick and then immediately come back to the same spot for further instructions. She didn't like that at all. She also didn't like Sounwave's workshop. More specifically, she didn't like Soundwave.

She didn't like his indifference, his placidity, the fact that she could not read him at all. He gave off the vibe that she could do the Cha-cha or get shot right in front of his face and he would not care either way. How could someone be like that? Was it a kind of psychosis? Was it a lower programming? Even the Dinobots cared about some things. Soundwave didn't seem to care about anything at all. The absolute definition of robotic. Would he even care if someone shot _him_? Crystal had to wonder.

He was in the room adjacent to the workshop. Crystal had yet to go in there or even peek inside. She didn't want to. She was almost afraid to see what was in there. Maybe there was nothing. Maybe there were bodies of lesser robots sitting around. It could be anything.

Soundwave came back out and flipped through some data pads, his back to her as it usually was. The fact that he often never even bothered to look at her annoyed her. Even Megatron would at least acknowledge she was in the room. It made her think about her new deal with Starscream. She would be happy to sell out Soundwave if she could. If he said anything Starscream could use, she would tell him. That is, if Soundwave said anything. The trick would be to get him to talk. That could be a challenge. She thought she would give it a try.

"Um... I keep seeing this animal running around the ship. I saw it up in the rec room just recently. Do you know what it is?"

"Designation: Ravage. Root mode resemblance to Earth feline," Soundwave responded without looking at her.

"Ravage.... is a cat? You guys have a cat?" Crystal gawked. The Autobots didn't have anything even remotely close to a robotic animal that acted like an actual animal.

"Ravage sent to rec room. Refuel accomplished?"

It took a while for Crystal to realize that was a question. "Uh, yeah I fed it--him or... her or whatever."

"Ravage gender: male. All Decepticon gender: male."

"No females? None? Why is that?"

Soundwave paused for only a brief moment before going back to work. He never answered. Crystal kept waiting. She knew he'd heard her. Did that mean he didn't know the answer, or that he didn't want to tell her the answer?

The door opened and Megatron marched in. Crystal instantly jumped off her stool. She brightly waited for more of his pleasant surprise at the work she had done. She never even got so much as a "good job." Instead, she received a "come with me" and a view of Megatron's back as he walked out the door, fully expecting her to follow.

* * *

This was how it went for several days. Megatron would appear when she was done with one task-- sometimes right as she was finishing--and instantly give her another. The list never seemed to end, whether she was repairing equipment or cleaning out storerooms or whatever else Megatron could think of.

Twice he asked her if she needed to refuel and both times she told him no. He seemed almost disappointed, as if he was waiting for her to ask so he could... who knows, do what villains do? Laugh at her and tell her too bad? Make her beg for it? Who knew what went on in that processor of his. She was still trying to figure out what he was doing, herself.

The worst of it was cleaning the bottom bowels of the Nemesis. None of the Decepticons used the lowest level any longer. It had been buried under the ocean floor during the crash and held a permanent pond of ankle-deep salt water that had been stagnating for years. It had been eating at the walls and corroding them horribly, to the point where it was threatening to break into the upper levels. The only available light was that which Crystal brought with her. The halls were small and narrow. It was quite a claustrophobia-inducing project.

Crystal spent countless hours welding, draining, repairing, replacing and cleaning. She had no way to tell time, but she estimated she'd been down there at least three days without stopping for a break. Down there in the silence and the darkness, she began to wonder if this would be the end of her. Did Megatron intend to work her until she dropped?

If she could survive this, what would happen? Could she really make it, cleaning every inch of this base? It was true, her robot body prevented her from getting sore muscles and aching joints, but even a robot body must have a limit. If she could actually complete Megatron's list of demands until he ran out of chores, then what would he do to her?

Not knowing was more torturous than the physical labor. Sitting in the dark, scrubbing the floor, she had time enough to worry and wonder about every possible thing the Decepticons could do to her when they finally were done with her. Going through her predicament over and over in her head was just as exhausting as the physical labor.

Very few of her thoughts were of the Autobots. Sure, it would be great if she were rescued, but she didn't think that way. She was used to being self-reliant. If the Autobots came for her-- and at the back of her mind, she still hoped they would-- none of her worry would be necessary. But until they did, and then only if they succeeded in her rescue, she would still have to look out for herself, for however long that might be. She needed to be physically and emotionally prepared.

After the extremely long and taxing chore of cleaning up the lower level, Crystal's tanks were empty and she needed fuel. When Megatron came to get her, she was actually relieved he asked. She said yes, she needed energon. Surprisingly, Megatron took her right to a dispenser and she got herself a drink of the watered-down energon.

"You have gone quite awhile without refueling," Megatron told her, tone neutral.

"Um.. yeah, I don't use as much energy as you do." _No thanks to all that slave labor you put me through._

"That is good to hear," Megatron continued. "Now come with me. There is more for you to do."

Crystal slumped. More? After all that? That last job had taken three days straight, at least. Should she say something? Would Megatron give her a break if she did? He had, after all, let her refuel.

Megatron paused and looked back when she didn't follow. "Yes? Is there a problem?"

She was about to express her concerns when she saw his face and it all became clear. She had seen that face before, when she was younger and she decided she wanted to be a fighter. The boys would have that look on their faces when they gave her a hard time. They were waiting for her to give in. Now, so was Megatron.

A heavy stab of pride and anger cut Crystal to the core and she couldn't bring herself to say anything to him. She wasn't going to quit now. She would clean that whole damn base for him and then he wouldn't have anything else for her to do. That would show him. She wasn't going to give up, not now.

"No, no problem," she said and followed him down the hall.

* * *

Crystal pushed on for four more days before it got to her. Had she been Cybertronian with robotic origins, Crystal assured herself she could have kept going indefinitely as long as Megatron continued to let her refuel. But she wasn't. Coming from her human background, she had one major flaw: she still needed sleep.

Over the time Crystal had spent with the Autobots, the intervals between her sleep periods had gradually become longer and longer. The longest she had gone without sleep had been six days. As near as she could tell, Crystal had now been awake for a week and a half and it was taking its toll. Her mind badly needed rest. It needed to be shut off for a while or she was going to drive herself crazy with all the thinking and worrying she did. Her balance was fading and her hands were shaking as she tried to scrub the floor.

Crystal stopped and sat back on her heels, looking at her hands. The fingers twitched spasmodically and the paint on the tips had already rubbed off, revealing the dull grey metal underneath. Ratchet would always touch up her hands after a few days of hard work. Likewise, he allowed her to do the same for him. She told him once with a grin on her face that it felt like they were painting each other's nails. Ratchet didn't like that one bit.

Thinking about him made her lonely. After her parents died, Crystal had lived a very solitary life. Suddenly being thrust into a base chock full of Autobots who were always in each other's business had been a bit of a culture shock to her. Now she was used to it and she didn't like being alone. These days, it was just her, dirty floors and empty hallways. A Decepticon coming to harass her would almost be a welcome change. At least it would keep her awake. She was fading fast.

Crystal just barely managed to finish her latest chore without passing out right on the newly mopped floor. Setting her bucket aside, she remained sitting on the ground, gazing tiredly down the empty hallway. The thought of hauling herself all the way back to Soundwave's workshop was not an appealing one. She didn't have the energy any more. She needed sleep in a bad way; she was done. Even pulling her body to her feet seemed impossible. It just wasn't in her any longer.

That was it. She didn't care who came down the hall. Crystal weakly reached up to the switch above her and flicked it off, plunging the entire hallway into blackness. Then she curled up in the dark corner.

"Twenty minutes," she mumbled to herself. "I'll just sleep for twenty minutes."

She had barely muttered those words before she was out like a light.

* * *

Light flooded into Crystal's world, rudely forcing her awake. Something had nudged her, but she wasn't sure what. All she could see was a blinding square of light hovering over her head. She raised a hand to shield her optics while they tried to adjust to it. At the same time, she tried to scramble backwards to put some distance between them.

The light dimmed in response and Crystal realized it came from the glass casing of Soundwave's chest. At his feet stood Ravage, growling at her.

"What? What's going on?" Crystal mumbled, trying to regain her bearings. It was still difficult to function after so little sleep.

"Current occupation: explain." Soundwave warbled at her.

Crystal didn't even try to get up; she didn't have the energy. All her fight was gone. The only thing left was pathetic frustration.

"I'm done, okay?" she cried, her voice cracking. "I can't do any more! I'm too.. I'm too tired." The end faded off as the last of her energy melted from her outburst.

Soundwave tipped his head at her. "Energy reserves low?"

"No," Crystal whined pitifully. "That's not it. I need sleep. I need... just to lay here and be left alone for a while. I'm so tired."

Unfortunately for her, Soundwave wasn't just going to leave her there. He reached out a massive hand to her and Crystal was too exhausted to shrink away from it. He grabbed her arm and lifted her limp body to her feet without effort. But instead of making her try to stand, he gathered her up in his arms and carried her down the hall bridal style.

Clutched to his chest, Crystal could hear the low, rhythmic rumble of Soundwave's spark beneath the armor.

_So he has one, too. I guess there really is something alive in there_, Crystal wondered. She groggily looked up at the darkened ceiling. "Why didn't you turn on the lights? I fixed them."

"Light: wastes energy. Energy must be conserved," came his response.

"Make sense," Crystal mumbled as she began to drift off again.

Crystal slipped in and out as she was carried back to Soundwave's workshop, but he didn't stop there. He made a left into the other room where his quarters were. Crystal fought to stay awake so she could see them. She hadn't dared to look before. What she saw was rather disappointing. Contrary to her imagination, it was just a normal room, if a little too plain. It was also bigger than she thought it would be, with extra furniture as if more than one person lived there.

Soundwave set her down on a cot that did not have any recharge capabilities. It was a lot like the one she had in her room. She just wanted to curl up on it and pass out, but Soundwave was trying to talk to her.

"Required rest time period?"

Crystal wobbled as she tried to stay sitting up. "I would kill for eight hours."

The room fell silent.

"I'm done for now, aren't I?" Crystal asked. "Megatron is going to come looking for me. When he sees I can't work, he's going to kill me."

Soundwave placed a hand gently on her head, causing her to look up at him. "Productivity: sufficient. Current objective: rest."

Crystal continued to stare at him as emotion welled up in her. Ratchet would often put his hand on her head like that. It was his way of showing her physical affection. He would pat her on the head and give her encouragement when she accomplished something new. She suddenly missed him, or just any friendly face. She wanted to grab Soundwave's hand and make him hold it there on her head for just a little while longer.

Soundwave turned and gathered a few data pads he had on his desk. When he turned back around, Crystal was already curled up on her side and out like a light. Soundwave approached and crouched next to her, tipping his head at the curious display. He touched her on the arm but got no reaction. He scanned her systems to find they were still running at normal capacity. Recharge mode had not been initiated. Not that it mattered; she wasn't plugged into anything from which to receive energy. Very curious.

The deep blue Decepticon heard someone approaching his workshop and went to go meet them. The door slid open and Rumble and Frenzy ran inside, followed by Megatron, who entered at a much more dignified pace.

The Decepticon leader looked around the room and then approached Soundwave. "Where is the prisoner?"

"Recharging," Soundwave responded, nodding to the next room.

Megatron looked confused. "Here? But there are no recharge stations in here."

"Prisoner contains self-recharging system. Request permission to further research for possible Decepticon use."

Megatron took a moment to think. Was that the reason she was built? The Autobots were working on a self-recharging system in that small, pink body? That kind of technology would be useful to his forces, as energy was already scarce. If his troops had a way to recharge themselves even a small percentage, that would really put him ahead.

"Very well. Gather what information you can, but do not take it apart without notifying me first."

"As you command, Megatron."

His leader gave a slight nod and then left the room.

No sooner had the door closed behind him than a voice shouted from the other room. "What the slag, Soundwave?"

Soundwave walked into the other room to see the two agitated cassettes stalking around Crystal's body.

"That's ours!" Frenzy insisted, pointing an indignant finger at the cot.

"It's going to get its Autobot germs all over it!" Rumble complained. "Get it off, Soundwave!"

Frenzy didn't even wait for Soundwave's response. He was too impatient for that. He walked right up to Crystal and shoved her in the shoulder. "Hey, get off, you!"

Crystal stirred. Then she mumbled something and rolled over, one arm swinging out and latching onto Frenzy, pinning him next to her.

"What the frak?" he squawked, trying to get away.

But the thing holding him had a grip like steel. Rumble laughed at his brother.

"Don't just stand there, stupid! Help me!" Frenzy demanded. "Soundwave! Get it off me or I'm going to piledrive it back to its creator!"

"Frenzy, cease action," Soundwave ordered. "Megatron's orders: keep prisoner undamaged."

Frenzy froze and did a slow boil. He was not happy at all. Soundwave reached over and helped him extricate himself from Crystal's grip before she rolled over, her back to them and still sound asleep.

Rumble watched, hardly any more enthusiastic than his brother. "So what are we going to do with this thing, then?" He looked up at Soundwave and the frown etched itself even deeper on his face plate. "No, Soundwave! Just no!"

"What?" Frenzy asked. "What is it?"

"I know that look," Rumble said accusingly. "He got that same look before we got Ratbat. No, Soundwave, you can't adopt everything Megatron drags in. Look at it, it's not even Cybertronian and it's not gonna fit in your chest compartment."

"I ain't making room for it," Frenzy grouched.

"And Megatron's not gonna let you keep it so you can just forget about it. Okay Soundwave? Hey, Soundwave!"

But Soundwave had already gathered up his data pads and moved to the other room, his objecting cassettes at his heels. Crystal was left behind, still sound asleep and completely oblivious.


	4. Conversation

Author's Note: Once again, thank you SO much for the support on this story. That means so much to me and I'm glad to hear how everyone is enjoying it. To everyone who commented and just for reading, thank you!

The Secret Lives of Decepticons

Chapter Four: Conversation

War was a part of the Decepticon way of life. Fire, blood, death, carnage: they were used to all of these. They had been fighting for so many millions of years, war was now set deeply in their programming. It ran through their cables and wires to their very cores.

But over the twenty-some odd Earth years they had been on this planet, war had evolved into quite a different thing for the Earth-bound Decepticons. The battles were always small and quick. The Autobots outnumbered them and energy resources were always stretched thin, no matter how many raids they went on. They always managed to steal just enough to sustain them until the next one.

It was frustrating never to be able to get ahead, but for now, they were getting by. Despite the scarcity of energy, the Decepticons got along fine day by day. The Autobots may have always chase them away, but they were merely nuisances. It was very seldom any Decepticons returned from an Autobot confrontation with serious injuries. It just wasn't in the Autobot nature to do severe damage if it wasn't necessary, and the Decepticons just didn't have the energy to retaliate in greater force.

So, as it had been since the first landing, the two factions mostly chased each other around. Sometimes they'd get in a few good shots at each other, but most of their time was spent thwarting plans and preventing energy theft. It wasn't war any longer. It was a strange game of cat and mouse they all played together.

War, real war, had been forgotten for a time, even by the Decepticons. So the manner of retaliation from the Autobots during their latest energy raid was a very rude wakeup call.

Energy was getting low. Megatron dispatched everyone on the latest mission. They very much needed to get hold of all they could just to keep the base and themselves running.

They couldn't even afford to travel very far. One of the local power plants would have to do, even though the humans had fortified their power with anti-Decepticon weaponry in the local area. Soundwave had dispatched Ravage and Lazerbeak to gather information and formulate a plan of attack.

When they were prepared, the humans' defenses were easy enough to get around. The real problem was the Autobot response team. Soundwave had calculated down to the microsecond how long they would have before the Autobots would arrive on scene. In that time, they would need to stock as much energy into their jet soldiers as they could and get them out of there quickly. Decepticons were not afraid of confrontation, but in order to have energy to live, caution and stealth were more important than brute force.

Megatron made sure his troops were prepared to get in, harvest energy quickly and get out. He was not, however, prepared for the kind or response he received from the Autobots. It had become obvious they were bitter towards the Decepticons since the capture of their prisoner and the failed rescue attempt. The first energy collection attempt showed the Autobots were still a bit sore on the matter. But this encounter was something completely different.

Only Ramjet and Thrust had been loaded and were taking off when the Autobots hit. Hard. They had appeared earlier than anticipated, as though they had been waiting for the Decepticons the entire time. The Autobots would ordinarily chase the Decepticons out by swarming the area and firing at will until the Decepticons retreated. Not so this time.

The Autobots rushed them as a single, organized unit, attacking as one. It felt like a great tidal wave had descended upon the surprised Decepticons. They hit hard and crippled quickly. Megatron was caught off-guard, so it took him a moment to realize that the Autobots were sparing some Decepticons while damaging others.

Surprisingly, the Constructicons were hit the hardest.

Hook was taken out first with alarming precision, despite the fact that all the Constructicons had heavier armor than most. He was followed by Scrapper and MixMaster. Next on the Autobot's hit list was Soundwave, then, strangely enough, Breakdown and Wildrider.

The Decepticons, of course, did all they could to retaliate and inflict some damage themselves. They were more than happy to tear into the Autobots while the Autobots tore into them. But the Autobots had them surrounded. This time, they weren't letting the Decepticons retreat.

When Megatron realized they had been penned in to suffer more damage, he became angry. This was not how the Autobots, Prime's Autobots, fought. There was real intent with this attack and the malice wasn't Prime's. Megatron looked around the battle scene, trying to find some answers. His Decepticons were divided, confused and damaged, fighting back frantically. The Autobot lines were still solid and they attacked at almost full force. Who was responsible for this?

Above the relentless wall of Autobots, Megatron saw him. He stood above them, overseeing that which he had orchestrated. When they locked optics, Megatron had no doubt about who was to blame for this.

Megatron had brushed paths with this Autobot in person only once that he could recall. It had been before the war had fully broken out and he could sense the battle prowess radiating from this Autobot even then. He had been a high-marked, quickly rising military student who had only worked under the Cybertronian government for a short while before he disappeared from the record altogether to join the Autobots.

He was quite possibly one of the most brilliant and unknown military minds of his generation. And right now he was proudly looking down at Megatron, black and white panels flared, like he knew he had no equal.

Prowl's ice blue optics regarded him coolly and the look on his face could not be mistaken. This was a message for Megatron. He had always had the power to put an end to the Decepticons here on Earth if he so wished. This was not the best he could do, but a warning. This was a threat.

That made Megatron tremble, not with fear, but with rage. No one dared to threaten Megatron. Ever. Not if he wished to live another cycle. To add to his rage, there was nothing he could do about it. His troops were being overpowered. Megatron himself had taken a few hits. They were trapped and hurting and needed to escape. There was no win to be had.

The second Megatron seemed to realize this, the wall of Autobots parted. An escape route opened up to them like a glorious ray of sunshine.

"Decepticons! Fall back! Fall back!" Megatron bellowed.

His troops gladly did as ordered, practically stumbling over each other to safety. It was not lost on Megatron that the Autobot attack had ceased entirely. Even though they were winning, they let their enemies go.

Megatron's energon boiled inside him. How could he lose so completely? How had he been taken so off-guard? As he fled with his fellow Decepticons, he felt he had been played for a fool. Megatron vowed he would not be played so easily the next time and he vowed his revenge.

* * *

It was quiet in Soundwave's workshop. Quiet and boring. All the Decepticons had left the base, leaving Crystal locked tightly inside the room, all alone. Well, not quite alone.

Its name was Lazerbeak. Or maybe "his," Crystal supposed. He was another one of Soundwave's "pets" and he was currently perched high on a pipe hanging from the ceiling, watching her with a steady stare. It was a bit annoying. No matter where she moved, that bird would follow with his gaze locked on her.

It was a bit uncomfortable to be watched so closely after becoming used to Soundwave's indifference to her presence. At first she spent her time wandering in circles and jumping back and forth, watching Lazerbeak's head move right along with her. But that got old fast. There was absolutely nothing to do in Soundwave's workshop. He kept it in pretty good shape. She tried to clean a bit of it, but eventually gave up and settled on the floor in a corner to wait.

Crystal had begun to doze off when the door hissed open. She flipped on her optics, expecting to see Soundwave. Instead, she saw the raging form of Megatron stomp toward her. He looked a mess: scorched armor, one arm blasted open and sparking, and murder clear in his optics.

She tried to scramble to her feet as he approached, but Megatron beat her to it, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her up roughly from the ground. Crystal had never been so frightened of him before. He looked fit to pull her apart piece by piece without ever giving her a reason why.

"What?" she panicked in a high voice. "What did I do?"

Megatron did not give an answer. Instead, he hauled her out of the room with a growl and dragged her down the hall. Crystal could feel his grip on her upper arm was so strong that the metal bent around each digit. It took all of Crystal's will not to give into her instincts to fight against him. Maybe if she submitted and went wherever he was taking her, she would live through this.

Megatron took her to an upper level room she hadn't been in before. The large, double doors slid open and Crystal gasped at what she saw: Decepticons all over, all of them damaged to various extents. Some were wounded so badly they were lying on tables or the floor. Liquids leaked everywhere. She stared for several moments, trying to take it all in. Then she looked up at Megatron for answers.

Megatron wanted to yell at the smaller thing in his grip. He wanted to throw her to the ground and tell her this was all her fault. He knew the Autobots had been so ruthless because of her, he just didn't know why. But as much as he just wanted to shatter her against the wall, he knew that would do no good. He wouldn't be gaining his revenge for what the Autobots did if they never knew what he did to her. Besides, the Autobots had crippled every Decepticon that was capable of repairing the others.

No doubt that had been their plan when they attacked. Hook and Scrapper were completely out. So was Soundwave. For the other gestalt team members who were badly injured, it took a while for Megatron to figure it out, but the Autobots had taken out the ones that formed the legs of their larger mode, making it impossible for either team to form Devastator or Menasaur. They had planned for everything and Megatron had planned for nothing.

What was worse, they only got away with very minimal energy. It would not be long at all before they would have to go out again for more. Megatron was very sore indeed. If he hadn't needed this little bot right now, he would have taken all his anger out on her just out of spite.

"This is your new task," Megatron growled. "Get to it."

"B-by myself?" Crystal stuttered. "Don't you have a medic?"

Megatron lowered his menacing gaze on her and Crystal shrank back. She could just feel the rage radiating off of him.

"Your job is not to speak, but to do. If you question me again, I'll send you to the scrap heap! Now do it!"

He shoved her in the back hard enough that she stumbled forward and almost lost her balance before catching herself on a table.

Her fuel pump was going double-time. Crystal looked around the room full of wounded Decepticons in a panic. She knew how to repair them, but she didn't know where to start, there were so many of them. Ratchet always triaged the wounded and delegated assignments. This time she had to decide where to start. The decision could cost her her life.

Her voice felt weak. She willed herself enough strength to vocalize over the crowd. "Is there... um, anyone with terminal injuries I need to look at first?"

There were several gruff mumbles, but one clear voice raised above the din.

"Here. This requires your attention right away." The voice was calm, cultured. Quite different from the voices of most of the other Decepticons she'd met.

She approached the Decepticon who was waving her over. She had never seen him before. He was mostly construction green with purple patches. There were actually a number with that coloring. Crystal hoped she would be able to tell them apart if the time ever came when that was needed.

The one who had waved her over was in terrible shape: scorch marks all over, missing one arm and the hand mangled on the other. But it was not for himself he'd called her over. His similarly-colored companion lay prone on the table in a puddle of his own fluids.

Crystal had a mixture of reactions when she saw the carnage. Just the sight of a dying robots was something she wasn't used to, but she knew this was the enemy. Shouldn't she be happy they'd all gotten hurt? They were her captors. But to see this much damage and know without a doubt it was the Autobots who had caused it was hard to swallow. They were so gentle and friendly... but Crystal had seen Jazz in action once and knew what kind of brutality he was capable of when forced to.

Jazz. That bright blue optic band. That infectious, gorgeous smile. She may not ever see him again. Crystal quickly shook herself. No, focus on this.

"I have tried to suppress the leakage," the well-spoken Decepticon explained to her, gathering her attention. "Unfortunately, I can only do so much with... this." He nodded to his missing arm and mangled hand. "Anyone leaking energy must be attended to first. We must conserve as much as we can."

Well, it was nice to have a plan. He was no Ratchet, but suggestions at this point were most welcome.

"I understand," Crystal said. She did not hesitate to put her hands into the mess of fluids and ruined circuitry that made up the insides of the one lying on the table. As she worked, she glanced at the other Decepticon. "Are you a medic?"

The Decepticon gave a sound like a heavy sigh. "Its labor is beneath me, but I do have the training, yes."

"Your name?"

"Hook. The one bleeding all over you is Scrapper."

Okay, Hook and Scrapper. She tried to remember that. "Are there any other tools I can use? I only have a few small ones on me."

"I do know where they are located."

"Okay, also, can you... would you mind finding out who else is leaking energy?" Crystal gave him a hopeful look. She felt bad for asking since Hook was so damaged himself, even though he didn't seem to be in any pain. But being the first to offer assistance, she didn't know who else to turn to.

Even the Decepticon seemed to consider this before nodding. "I will... see what I can do."

"Um, thank you!" she called after Hook had marched off. It felt weird to thank a Decepticon, but being a captive didn't mean she should forget her manners.

The one called Scrapper was a mess, worse than any of the wounded Autobots she had ever seen. He was missing much of his chest armor and cords and computer chips were just falling out of him. Crystal did her best to put the proper pieces back in order and to locate all the leaky fuel lines in the mess.

She went about her work as the Autobots had taught her. All those with serious injuries were stabilized and then put into stasis lock until more time was available for their repair. After stabilizing Scrapper, her next patient was a Decepticon she recognized. It was the red and black one who had been harassing her with a yellow car type when Megatron first started putting her to work.

_He had better appreciate this when he gets put back together,_Crystal thought.

She started working on another green and purple Decepticon whose wounds were leaking badly but not fatal when Megatron approached her. Crystal had assumed was going to be gone for a while. She hadn't expected him back so soon.

"You are too slow," he said from behind, voice laced with irritation.

Crystal jumped at the unexpected accusation. It was the first time Megatron had ever pestered her while she was in the middle of one of his chores.

"Are you dragging your feet on purpose, maintenance bot?" he accused.

"Of course not," Crystal said, not looking up from her welding job. "I'm doing the best that I can."

"Your speed is unacceptable. I have not had a single repaired Decepticon come out of here yet."

Crystal looked around, searching for an answer. "Well I didn't see all your Decepticons here. You still have a few jets... right?"

Megatron savagely knocked over the small cart next to her that held all the repair equipment. Crystal ducked next to the body she was repairing, scared.

"I told you not to question me!" he boomed. "Now speed up your progress or taste my fusion cannon!" He brandished his impressive weapon at her, then stormed out of the room.

Once he was gone, Crystal found some of her courage again. "I'm moving as fast as I can," she grouched over the body. "Does it _look _like I'm trying to waste time?"

As she worked, Hook wheeled another cart next to her, one with the parts to rebuild his arm.

"Repair me," he told her. "Fix my arms and I can assist you. Then repair Soundwave. He can help repair as well."

"You... you want to help me?" Crystal asked, almost afraid it was a trick.

"I merely like to see efficiency," Hook insisted proudly. "Megatron was quite correct. You are extremely slow at repairing."

Crystal frowned. "Fine." She attacked Hook's arm with renewed vigor despite his insistence she was still going as slowly as an outdated model on its last legs.

Once Crystal had taken care of the injuries to Hook's arms, he all but pushed her out of the way to begin repairing Decepticons with quality and skill "far superior" to her own. Crystal didn't mind in the least. She left him to it to go repair Soundwave as he had suggested.

That particular Decepticon had been sitting on the floor in a corner the entire time, one knee joint completely blown out and a hand hanging from threads of sparking wires. He was still fully online, alert and looking around, but had not said anything, no groaning or complaints the entire time. Unlike some of the other wounded.

"Hook said that you know how to repair?" Crystal asked as she knelt next to him.

"Affirmative," Soundwave confirmed.

"Would you... be willing to help us out?"

"Affirmative. Repair arm. Capability of self repair," he nodded to his knee. "Then assistance with Decepticon repairs."

"Great," Crystal confirmed as she got to work. "I could use all the help I can get."

Soundwave's arm looked whole at first glance, but it had actually been yanked free of its socket, rendering the whole arm immobile. Crystal had to shove it back in, which took all her strength on a body that size, and then reconnect it. Once movement was reestablished in the arm, she set about putting Soundwave's hand back together.

It was very slow and meticulous work to get the fingers functioning. Hook had already sent out two healthy Decepticons by the time she was done.

As soon as Soundwave's hand was repaired, he went right to work fixing his own knee joint without a word. Crystal had yet to be thanked once for anything she had ever done on this base. Apparently the phrase "thank you" was not in the Decepticon vocabulary.

Nonetheless, it was a huge relief to have help. With both Hook and Soundwave working to repair the casualties, Megatron couldn't complain now. Soundwave moved on to the minor injuries after repairing himself. Hook took on the one called Scrapper who had the worst of the injuries. Crystal decided to settle on the second-worst of them, the red and gray car type Decepticon.

He was a bit of a mess himself. He didn't have so many torn internal injuries as the other one, but looked like the victim of some very heavy pummeling. Some of the dents appeared to have been there since long before the battle. For the first time, Crystal ventured to think that the life of a Decepticon was not an easy one.

After fixing his internal systems and cleaning him up, Crystal turned off his stasis lock. He could be fully awake to sit through the rest of the outer repairs. Perhaps it was selfish, but she very much wanted him to know who was saving his life.

Wildrider's purple optics flickered on and his mouth instantly pulled down in a frown on his red faceplate. He tried to sit up, but his body wouldn't let him. "The frag is this?" he growled. "I can't move!"

"I took the liberty of disabling your back strut and joints while you were in stasis, Wildrider," Hook said calmly as he approached. "Given the temperament of you Stunticons, I didn't want you tearing out of here before I could properly _examine _you."

Even the way he said that word gave Crystal the creeps. The Decepticon called Wildrider looked close to panic. His joints creaked with strain as he tried to will his body to move.

"You keep your filthy digits out of my circuits, Constructicon!"

Crystal froze for a moment. So those were the Constructicons, the green and purple ones.

_ I suggest you steer clear of the Constructicons. They like to disassemble and examine things._

That was what Starscream had said to her. It seemed apparent that even their own were not off-limits for their tinkering.

Hook reached out to the open wound in Wildrider's chest. Crystal put her hand over it first.

"I got this one," she informed Hook.

"You?" Hook huffed. "Oh please. You're hardly qualified. Why don't you start cleaning or something? You're good at that."

Crystal smartly rapped a wrench on his knuckles when he tried to reach again. "I need the practice. You certainly can't argue that."

Hook tried a new approach. "Wouldn't you like to see something interesting? These Stunticons have a built-in force field of the likes which I have never seen. It does not drain their power supply at all and it remains online while they're in vehicle mode indefinitely. Wouldn't you like to see that? I can show you the inner workings of--"

"I will slag you to the seventh corner of the pit if you touch my inner workings," Wildrider growled.

"I said I've GOT it," Crystal said, still standing protectively over the prone Stunticon. She then nodded to Scrapper who sat on the other table, waiting for the rest of his repairs. "Why don't you go fix your teammate while I work on this one, okay?"

Hook stood there for a moment, frowning and weighing his options. The little maintenance bot was lucky he wasn't as aggressive as some of the other Decepticons. She did have a point. Scrapper still needed repairing. There could be an opportunity later on. He turned to attend to his teammate.

The second his back was turned Crystal went to work like a maniac, trying to put Wildrider together as quickly as she could.

Wildrider still didn't look pleased that she was touching him. "Whatever you think you're doing, I'm not going to let you--"

"Hush up and let me work," Crystal hissed at him in a low voice. "If I don't finish fixing you by the time he fixes his buddy over there, you're out of luck. I probably won't be able to hold both of them off from getting their hands on you, understand?"

Wildrider pressed his mouth together in a tight frown. He was quiet for a moment. "So why are you doing this? What do you want?" he then whispered back as he watched the ceiling.

"How about you not trying to kick my head in again?" Crystal shot back.

The Stunticon raised his head in protest. "That wasn't me, that was Dragstrip! I just--"

"Threatened to break my legs?" she finished for him.

Wildrider plopped his head back down on the table.

"Look, I'm not asking you to be nice to me or anything, just stop giving me grief when I'm trying to work. It's hard enough keeping up with Megatron's demands without worrying about my life, okay?"

Wildrider hissed air out of his vents as he looked at the ceiling again. "Yeah, doing what Megatron says really blows scrap sometimes."

Crystal didn't ask him to expand on that thought. She would be happy just not to worry about physical harm from him. She took his silence as a form of agreement and continued to work. All the time, she kept glancing back at Hook to see how his progress was going. The Construticon did not seem to be in a hurry, but the rate at which he could repair was even faster than she had seen Ratchet on his best day.

It would be no contest. Hook would finish first with plenty of time to spare. Wildrider's only hope would be if she just managed the bare minimum and sent him on his way to finalize the repairs another time. Crystal worked as quickly as she could, fingers stiff and caked with dried fluids. She didn't worry about keeping the insides clean. She doubted Wildrider cared ether.

Hook was so fast! Scrapper was beginning to look brand new while Wildrider still looked like a robot zombie: half alive with guts still hanging out. But Crystal continued to work, praying it would be enough. Wildrider stayed quiet and still, sensing the urgency.

Scrapper was now sitting up as Hook put on the finishing touches. Crystal was out of time. She shoved the rest in and closed the panels. The two Constructicons turned toward her as she frantically unlocked all Wildrider's joints.

The second the last one was free, Wildrider was off the table and racing out of the room. He paused at the door to give them all a startled look and then took off down the hall.

"Hey! I'm not done!" Crystal called after him, hoping it looked like Wildrider escaped on his own. "Come back here so I can finish!"

"So he got away, did he?" said Hook, not sounding too convinced. "Pity."

"I've been itching for a long time to look inside the core of one of those Stunticons," Scrapper said, his voice much rougher and more impatient than Hook's.

"Yes, such a shame," Hook agreed and then turned his head to look at Crystal. "But we still have you."

Crystal actually dropped the power screwdriver she was holding. She took a step back as the two Constructicons zeroed in on her.

"It will be interesting to see what the Autobots have put together from the inside out," Hook continued.

Crystal's fuel pump kicked up. Robot body or not, she did not want strangers putting their hands inside her systems. She suddenly had a horrible mental image of being taken apart piece by piece while fully awake. Or having it done to her while she was off-line and then waking up to find herself only a head or something was equally as gruesome. This Decepticon named Hook, her ally only a moment before, was now someone who wanted to harm her. How quickly tides could change with Decepticons.

Crystal backed against a table, pump beating wildly and trying to figure out what to do as Hook grabbed for her. But a larger, dark blue hand landed on the Constructicon's shoulder.

"Megatron's order: No disassembly of maintenance bot without prior authorization," Soundwave informed Hook and Scrapper.

Crystal had forgotten he was even there; he was always so quiet.

"Surely Megatron doesn't care that much about this thing," Scrapper tried to sway him. "We could always put it back together when we're done."

"Megatron's orders, maintenance bot remains intact," Soundwave insisted.

Hook frowned. "Fine. We'll discuss it with Megatron another time."

Unspeakable relief washed over her as the Constructicons turned away in a huff. Crystal wasn't sure who she should thank for that rescue, Soundwave or Megatron. Certainly Soundwave didn't step in out of concern for her, but to ensure Megatron's orders were carried out. Crystal had no doubt the second Megatron gave the order, Soundwave would deliver her to the Constructicons himself if that's what the Decepticon leader wanted.

Fortunately, the Constructicons weren't in too big of a hurry to bring their issues before Megatron. The Decepticon leader walked in just as they were heading out and not a single word was exchanged. In fact, the Constructicons seemed to pick up their pace in Megatron's wake to get out of his way.

He still looked a bit put out when he arrived, but not as much as the previous time he'd come in to yell at her. Megatron looked around, hands on hips, and seemed somewhat satisfied that the med bay was now cleared of all wounded.

"That's much better," he said, directing an accusatory tone at her.

Crystal lowered her head from his gaze. She was having a hard time trying to figure out where his sudden aggression toward her was coming from. She had worked hard for him for weeks and she had repaired his soldiers. What more was there to do for him that would help him not be so angry at her?

Crystal noticed Megatron still had his own injuries. The worst was a gaping hole in the back of his arm, charred black from laser fire. She motioned timidly to it. "Would you like me to... repair that?"

Megatron looked her up and down, disgusted with her state. Fluid had dribbled all down her front and dried, caked heavily on her arms and hands. It was the blood of his warriors that bled for him, the blood she had cleaned from bodies she had repaired, and he wanted no part of it.

"You touching me in that state? Don't be ridiculous. Soundwave will do the repairs. You clean up this place."

Crystal tried not to visibly slump in front of him. Cleaning, of course.

"And be quick about it!" Megatron snapped at her back while she turned to get supplies.

Crystal ground her jaw, trying to curb her temper. Megatron was being such a pill today. She missed his cold indifference. This snappy, cross Megatron just made the situation worse.

She got right to work scrubbing the fluids off the examining tables and the floor, determined not to get yelled at again for being too slow. The room was quiet as Soundwave attended to his leader's repairs. The loudest thing was the brush as she scrubbed furiously at the soiled metal. Crystal hadn't even realized Megatron had been talking in low tones until Soundwave answered him in a voice that was, apparently, capable of only one volume.

Crystal scrubbed more quietly and turned up her hearing to see if she could pick up any of the conversation.

"We've bought ourselves maybe another Earth week with the energy we took today. That is unacceptable," Megatron said quietly. "We have no choice but to go out again soon. I'm sure that's what the Autobots expect."

"Suggest alternate sources of energy," Soundwave said in his normal volume.

"Like what?"

"Swindle had underground business deals with humans."

"Yes, while he was here on Earth he seemed to get a hold of energy quite easily from several sources. Unfortunately, he's on Cybertron and we don't have the reserves to run the space bridge. Plus, if we bring him down, we would have to bring all the Combaticons. That's five extra tanks to fill.

"Not to mention, Swindle will no doubt want something in return for his services." Megatron shook his head. "It isn't worth the expenditure."

Soundwave was quiet as he finished the repairs, far more quickly than Crystal could have managed.

"We'll think of something," Megatron said as he got off the table. "Come."

Soundwave obediently followed Megatron out the door. Crystal was relieved Megatron's current crisis had taken his attention away from her. Now all she had to do was finish her chore in a timely manner and then make herself disappear from his sight for a while. Maybe then Megatron will have calmed down by the time he had a new task for her.

She worked as quickly and efficiently as she knew how, leaving the Decepticon med bay in premium condition by the time she was through with it. When finished, she took one last look and then turned off the lights. It was strange just to leave it. Ratchet kept his med bay open constantly, always doing maintenance on someone. It appeared the Decepticons only used it after a battle. Well, either way, it was ready for the next one.

Immediately after she exited, a large, winged form got in Crystal's way. He had been waiting for her, but pretended their paths just happened to cross.

"There you are, maintenance bot, I have a job for you," Starscream informed her in a professional tone.

"Can it wait until I get cleaned up? I don't want to get this junk all over anything else."

Starscream looked her up and down. "That can wait. Come with me."

Crystal followed him down the hall, but she frowned. She really was getting sick of being ordered around at the whim of every Decepticon. It was so tiring not knowing what was coming next or what they had in store for her.

Starscream led the way down a series of halls Crystal hadn't traveled before. There were several doors in a row on both sides, leading her to assume it was where the personal quarters were stationed. That made her a bit suspicious as to where they were going and what he wanted.

Crystal become even more suspicious as Starscream stopped at the last room down the hall and opened the door, suavely motioning for her to go in first. She didn't like it, but she walked inside the pitch black room. The door closed behind the both of them, plunging them into complete blackness before the lights flickered on.

The room was more spacious than Crystal expected it to be. Plenty of furniture: the Cybertronian equivalent of a long couch, several screens placed here and there and a large work desk in the corner. Crystal couldn't help but be surprised at both the domestic and professional motif in the room. Not to mention the size. Most of the barracks in the Ark were small and simple with two Autobots packed into each. Nothing like this.

Starscream smirked at her expression. "You like?"

Crystal quickly schooled her awe. "It's nice," she said in a cautious tone.

In fact, a bit too nice for the filthy state she was in. She took a step back as if worried about tracking something in.

"This way." Starscream beckoned her over to a drain with a shower head above it. Out of the wall he pulled a sort of screen that folded over for a bit of privacy. He didn't bother to explain to her what she could do with it before leaving her to her own devices.

Crystal was actually impressed. She was sure even Optimus Prime didn't have this kind of layout. The Autobots led simple lives. They didn't need this kind of extravagance.

She hurried to clean herself. It took a bit longer than normal to scrub all the gunk out of her finger joints. She really had quite a bit of fluid dried on her, but she tried to finish as quickly as she could. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't spend all day in Starscream's shower. How weird would that be? It was strange enough just being in his room alone with him, let alone being in the receiving end of his hospitality.

When she was finished, the cleaning solution evaporated almost instantly and she returned everything back to where it was. Now dry, she walked back to the couch where Starscream lounged, feet propped up and flipping through some data pads. She stood there, waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing, waiting to find out why he had asked her there.

"It seems you have been free to work without harassment lately," Starscream finally said, not looking up from his records.

"Yes, it seems," Crystal said guardedly.

"Good. I noticed you were in there with Megatron and Soundwave. Did you hear what they were saying?"

So he had been watching out for her, if you could call it that. "A little."

"What were they talking about?"

"Um... it was about the energy being low. Megatron is worried about it and he's angry at the Autobots."

"And?"

Crystal repeated the parts she had heard, trying to figure out what Starscream would want to hear. "He and Soundwave discussed looking into alternate sources. I heard someone named Swindle mentioned."

Starscream chuckled at this. "Anything else about the energy shortage?"

"Not that I can recall. I didn't hear the entire conversation."

Starscream hadn't bothered even to look at her. "Good. Keep me posted. You may leave."

Crystal stood there a moment. She had never been dismissed like some sort of... house slave before. Finally, she turned and walked toward the door.

"Oh, and if anyone asks why you were here," Starscream called. "Tell them you repaired my screen."

Crystal turned. "Screen?"

Starscream waved a finger in the direction of the far wall and the entire thing suddenly turned to a panoramic view of space.

Crystal frowned at his back. Of course. He _would_ have something so ostentatious during an energy crisis. She wondered exactly how helpful he was to his own cause as she left the room.

Decepticons. She didn't understand them at all.


	5. Conspiracy

Author's Notes: This chapter references the "Key to Vector Sigma" episodes. And thanks as always for all the comments they really keep me going.

The Secret Lives of Decepticons

Chapter Five: Conspiracy

Megatron became increasingly more violent with Crystal as the days went on. Whatever novelty he had found in her at the beginning seemed to be wearing off. He acted as though presenting tasks to her now was an inconvenience and, despite the fact that Crystal continued to perform each chore quickly and completely, his patience with her wore thin.

The first time he hit her left Crystal spinning in surprise. Abuse in any form was not something with which she had ever been familiar. To have someone lose his patience and take it out on her physically was a completely new experience. Megatron had a wicked backhand. Had she been human, Crystal had no doubt he would have bruised the entire side of her face. Being a robot, it didn't hurt her, but she was left with a small dent below her optic. It also rattled around the circuits in her head pretty good.

Without physical pain, it made Crystal more angry than scared that Megatron was taking out his problems on her. More than anything, it hurt her pride to be treated this way. In a normal situation, she could have taken care of herself, possibly even hitting her attacker before he could hit her. But this was no normal situation. There was no way she could defend herself against Megatron. He was too big and too strong. For now, he owned her.

It was humiliating to admit, but Crystal had to accept that no matter what Megatron wanted to do to her, he could. There was nothing she could do to stop it. No matter how hard she worked, he never seemed satisfied with her progress. There were times he looked ready to do more than just hit her once or twice. She could see murder in his optics, but something always stopped him. What that was, Crystal wasn't sure. Maybe Megatron didn't know, himself. But Crystal could feel that internal wall cracking and knew whatever it was that was holding him back wasn't going to hold him back forever.

If this pattern continued, Crystal had no doubt that one day Megatron would kill her.

In just a few days, Crystal found herself in an increasingly frazzling lifestyle. Starscream may have been able to keep the rest of the Decepticons away as per their agreement, but not even he could save her from Megatron.

She dreaded every moment spent waiting for Megatron to give her a new task, waiting for him to show up in the middle of it and having him bark at her for moving too slowly, often striking her in his anger. Crystal could tell he was doing it on purpose now. He made sure not to give her adequate time before coming back in to abuse her.

Her stress level ran high over the situation. Just the thought of Megatron coming for her made her hands start to shake. Her condition was far worse than it had ever been at the Autobot base. She would shiver uncontrollably, sometimes even across her whole body. It made it difficult to complete the more intricate repair work, but she forced herself to keep going the best she could. It was really all she could do. Surviving one more day was now her goal. There was nothing else.

The only positive aspect of the whole situation was that Crystal was getting faster at repairs. She had finished repairing one of the communications screens in a lower level station before Megatron could show up to give her grief about not being done quickly enough. She was feeling quite proud of herself. Let Megatron find something to complain about now.

She felt so accomplished she marched proudly down the hall back to Soundwave's workshop, not really thinking ahead. Just around the next corner, she almost ran right into Megatron himself before catching herself on her toes. Before she could tell him she had accomplished her latest repair, his thick arm caught her across the chest, slamming her into the wall.

"Get out of my way!" Megatron barked as he stalked passed her.

As usual, the initial strike didn't hurt her metal skin, but when her back hit into the wall, this time she felt something internal come loose. It felt almost like having the wind knocked out of her. Suddenly she didn't feel quite right. Crystal stumbled backward, letting the wall catch her as her balance gave out.

Megatron was flanked by two of his jets, the ones that looked like Starscream; one blue, one black and purple. They all walked past her like she was nothing more than a fixture in the hall. The blue one glanced back at her as they continued down the hall. The other two didn't spare her a second look.

Once they were gone, Crystal slid down the wall, butt landing on the floor. She suddenly felt so wobbly she couldn't stand up. Something was wrong with her. When she tried to get up, it felt like the floor was sliding on an angle and she would fall right off if she weren't careful. What was going on?

Crystal decided just to sit for a moment to see if the sensation would pass on its own. It didn't, for she lacked any type of internal repair system. She needed to fix herself somehow and she couldn't do it out in the hall. Starscream's promise or not, she was a sitting duck out here. She needed to get back to Soundwave's workshop, but how would she do that? She couldn't even stand. The thought of any of the Decepticons seeing her crawling back to Soundwave's was almost too much to bear; she simply couldn't do it. There had to be another way.

While Crystal tried to figure it out, a pair of feet stopped to look her over.

"What, pray tell, are you doing?"

Crystal looked up at the Decepticon, a car type with a face plate, standing over her. Just doing that caused her to lose what little balance she had and she almost hit her head on the floor.

"I'm having trouble getting up. For some reason I can't keep my balance." Crystal instantly cursed her knee jerk reaction to tell the truth. You don't admit to a pack of hyenas that you can't run away. She should have made something up. Who knew what this Decepticon would do now that he knew she was helpless?

"Sounds like your equilibrium stabilizer's loose," was the response. "Though I don't know what good it will do you, you should probably get that repaired. Come on."

It was a strange statement, but Crystal couldn't really argue.

The Decepticon grabbed her arm and pulled Crystal to her feet, looping the arm around his neck. The whole room began tipping this way and that once she was made to stand. Just one step and she would have fallen on her face. She had no control over her balance whatsoever. The Decepticon all but dragged her back to Soundwave's workshop.

As they went, Crystal tried to get what control over her body she could and at least look her rescuer in the face. "You look familiar. I've seen you before." She tried to recall. It was in the rec room. Starscream addressed him. "Dead... Dead End?"

"Yes, that's me," he responded in a long-suffering tone. "Not that it matters."

"It matters to me," Crystal insisted. "I'd still be on the floor trying to figure out how to drag my ass back here if it weren't for you."

"Perhaps. But you are living on borrowed time as it is. Then again, aren't we all?"

Crystal opened her mouth, but she had no idea what to say to that. What an odd statement.

The doors whooshed open automatically to Soundwave's workshop. He looked up from his tinkering as they came in.

"I found her flopping around damaged in the hall," Dead End said as he placed Crystal on the table in the middle of the room. "Her balance programming isn't working."

Crystal was surprised that he placed her on the table gently rather than just tossing her onto it.

Soundwave immediately reached a large, heavy hand toward her chest plate. Instinctively, Crystal crossed her arms over her chest as a sense of modesty came over her at being touched by a stranger. Her optics were wide, she didn't want him to touch the insides of her body, even if they were just wires and circuits.

"Removal of panel required for repair," Soundwave insisted.

"Unless you enjoy lying around useless," Dead End offered.

Crystal let her hands fall to the side, but she did not look happy about it. She tried to mentally prepare herself for this. It wasn't the same as if Ratchet were fixing her. She thought of Ratchet not only as her teacher, but as her doctor. Soundwave wasn't a doctor, he was just some.. guy--some robot. She didn't like him touching her, but she had no choice.

As he slipped off her chest plating, she flipped off her optics and waited for it to be over.

"Cause of damage?" Soundwave wondered.

"Uh... I was kind of in Megatron's way... I guess."

"Suggested course of action, stay out of Megatron's way."

"Believe me, I'm trying. But he just seems to get angrier every time he sees me even though I've done everything he's asked me to do. I don't know what more he wants."

"If he acts like he doesn't want to see you, maybe he doesn't," Dead End offered glumly.

"But then how can he tell me what to--" Crystal stopped herself. "If I could anticipate what needs attention before he can direct me, he won't have to bother telling me what to do."

Soundwave pressed into her chest and Crystal felt something snap back into place and suddenly she felt whole again.

Soundwave replaced the plating. "Repairs completed."

Crystal sat up, now fully distracted by her new idea and hardly noticing how quick and painless the procedure was. If she started making rounds through the base and catching the damage as it occurred, she would not give Megatron reason to go looking for her. If he only saw her progress and not her, maybe he would forget his animosity and focus on other things.

The only problem with the plan was that she would have to leave the sanctity of Soundwave's workshop and the relative shelter of Megatron's escort. She would be open to the other Decepticons full time. Was it worth it?

Crystal rubbed her arm where there was still an indentation from Megatron's hand. She could feel where each finger had been when he squeezed them. It might be worth a shot. She looked at Soundwave, hoping he was in a mood to be helpful as long as she was working to keep Megatron happy.

"Is there a way I could get like a schematic of the base or a map? Or possibly even a work order or something so I can know what needs repair?"

"Affirmative."

Soundwave walked her over to a screen and showed her how she could look up that type of information. He made it clear that she was forbidden to try to gather any other information with the computer and that he would know if she did. Not that Crystal really noticed the threat. She was already zeroed in on her new plan to keep Megatron off her back.

While Crystal became completely consumed with gathering new information, Soundwave turned to Dead End who still lounged in the room.

"Purpose?" he asked. It was his way of saying 'And how can I help you?'

"Motormaster sent me to speak with you about Wildrider," Dead End explained. "Not that it matters to me either way, but he's still quite damaged. I doubt he has any transforming capabilities in his state. Which may not bode well if Megatron sends us out again.

"Right now he's not letting anyone near him. He keeps thinking the Constructicons are going to get him in his current state. His paranoia is rivaling Breakdown's at the moment. Though we all have one foot in the scrap heap anyway. Motormaster sends you his permission to tie Wildrider down by whatever means you see fit to get him repaired. Though good luck with that, you're definitely going to need it."

"Confirmed," Soundwave nodded. "Commence operation: capture and repair."

He turned his head in Crystal's direction, possibly to inform her or invite her along. But she hadn't heard one word of the conversation.

"Eureka!" she suddenly exclaimed, vital information now in her grasp. She was so excited with her new plan, she didn't even ask for permission to leave and threw a "Later boys, don't wait up," to them as she took off out of the room.

Soundwave silently watched her go. Whether he approved or disapproved of her behavior, he never said.

Dead End was also watching the door as it closed behind her. "Enthusiasm like that is such a waste. It's no use, we are all doomed to the pit eventually. What's the point?"

* * *

Doomed or not, Crystal put her plan into action with an exuberance she hadn't felt in herself since her capture. It felt good to be her own master again, to decide what she did with her time, even if it was just a tiny bit.

It felt a bit like a game, trying to guess what floor Megatron would be on and which repair jobs mattered most to him. Unfortunately, she had to do a lot of extra looking around to see who might be coming, slowing her down. But it was almost fun if she didn't count the fact that her life hung in the balance of this new gamble.

For an entire day she worked unmolested and Megatron never came looking for her while she fixed of her own accord what looked to need her attention the most. All seemed to be going well so far.

The second day found her back at the energon dispenser in the rec room. It was broken. Again.

_If they would use a higher quality energon, it wouldn't get all jammed up every few days,_Crystal thought as she frowned at the nasty filter. Not that she could really judge them, knowing how lean their energy supply was. It almost made her feel bad for them a bit. Almost.

It was hard to feel bad for them when a few individuals made it their goal to make her life as miserable as possible.

"Faster! You take forever! You stupid or somethin'? It ain't that hard to do!"

"Yeah, make it quick! We don't want you getting our energy supply dirty, filthy maintenance bot!"

Crystal ground her jaw as she worked. Rumble and Frenzy. By now, she knew their names and how to tell them apart. It was more than she had ever wanted to know about the terrible duo. They were such a huge pain. Ever since the time she had fallen asleep in Soundwave's room, they had been relentless.

Immune to whatever Starscream used to pacify the rest of the Decepticons, Rumble and Frenzy pestered her whenever they could. They called her every sort of horrible name they could think of, sometimes even harassing her physically by kicking at her or trying to sabotage whatever she was working on.

Crystal did her best to grin and bear it. In fact, she even tried to be nice to them, she really did. They were related to Soundwave in some way, though Crystal wasn't sure how. He kept them in that strange chest compartment of his at times, the same place he would often keep Ravage and Laserbeak. But Ravage and Laserbeak were pets, weren't they? So what did that make Rumble and Frenzy? Crystal never had the courage to ask.

A foot kicked at her leg and Crystal frowned more deeply.

"Hey ugly! Did you hear what I said? Go faster! A broken trash compactor could do a better job!"

"I'm working on it! Just give me a few minutes, please?"

Several times Crystal had just wanted to dropkick the two of them down the hall. Trying to be polite to them just made it worse, but she really had a hard time being physical toward something smaller than her. No matter how horrible they were. But boy, they were really pushing it today.

"Why did the Autobots build something so useless? Maybe they were trying to get rid of you. Sure make ME sick from looking at ya."

There was another kick, this time at her arm and Crystal found her patience was at an end. She pulled her head out from the dispenser so she could look him in the face. She was done being nice for today.

"Rumble, if you don't shut the hell up, I'm going to bitch slap you across this room. You understand me?"

The second it came out of her mouth, Crystal regretted it. Now she was going to get it. She expected both of them to jump on her with twice the insults, but it never happened.

Instead, Rumble looked at her blankly for a moment. "...Kay." He turned and walked away.

Crystal leveled a similar look at Frenzy which promised the same threat. He followed his twin.

Their response surprised her. It certainly wasn't as if they seemed intimidated at all by her threats. More like they simply got the message and decided to go annoy someone else.

Interesting. Maybe "bitch slap" was the magic word for Decepticons. Perhaps she should channel her inner ghetto girl more often.

Once the dispenser was repaired again, Crystal slid out and suddenly had the distinct feeling she was being watched. Only a few lights were on in the rec room to conserve energy. In a shadowed corner slunk a pair of small, red optics. Ravage. He watched her silently in the dim light, crouched to better blend in with the darkness.

Crystal sat on her knees, extending a hand to the creature to seem as friendly as possible. "Here kitty, kitty," she called hopefully. "Are you hungry?"

From the shadows came a deep, angry growl.

"Guess not," Crystal decided, gathering up her things. Best not to push her luck.

She started for the door but it slid open on its own, revealing part of a metallic gray body as it walked inside. Crystal instantly turned and bolted. Part of her plan was not to let Megatron see her for at least a couple of days. She had to hide. Before he stepped a foot inside, Crystal was already hiding in the utility closet in the back, praying he wouldn't stay long.

His heavy footsteps were easily heard when he entered, as was the high, insistent voice that tailed after him.

"So what are you going to do, Megatron?" Starscream demanded at his heels. "The base is running at only 30% capacity and your soldiers are practically starving. This whole situation is a joke! I know it, you know it, and the Autobots sure as slag know it! They wiped the floor with us!"

Crystal couldn't see them from where she was. She could only hear the two massive bodies shuffling around. One of them used the energon dispenser. Through the small crack in the doorway, she could see Starscream's shoulders as he and Megatron sat at a table.

"You have failed us all by letting things get so intolerable!" Starscream continued. "Once again you prove your incompetence! If I were the leader, none of this would have happened! You obviously aren't able to carry out your duties any longer."

Crystal put a hand to her mouth, optics wide. Starscream dared to talk to Megatron that way? Was he mad?

"You're just an opportunistic fool as always," Megatron growled back. "You say you are fit to lead, but you cannot offer one solution to this problem, can you?"

Starscream was silent and a pregnant pause hung in the air.

"I never would have let it get this bad!" Starscream suddenly barked. "You, on the other hand--"

At the same time, Megatron let out a "You don't have the common sense to deal with this energy crisis! All you do is--"

The two were suddenly up from their seats, yelling at each other at the same time, insulting and belittling each other, speaking so loudly it was hard to tell what each one said. It was very obvious this was not the first time they had gotten into each other's faces like this. They seemed very practiced at it, as the argument went for quite a while.

Starscream's voice remained high and accusing. Megatron's was low and slower, but it slowly built with anger until he shattered his energon cube against the wall.

"ENOUGH!" he roared, ending the argument.

Crystal frowned. She could see the energon dripping off the wall from her hiding place. She was going to have to clean that, no doubt.

The next thing to get slammed into the wall was Starscream himself, Megatron's hand clenched around his neck. Crystal froze, her body suddenly feeling cold. She had the overwhelming feeling she was about to witness a murder.

"Tread carefully, Starscream," Megatron growled at him, his voice full of danger. "Currently you are more the problem than the solution. At this point, we cannot afford any more problems."

The tone in his voice was clear. Be part of the solution or be dead. Problems were not welcome here.

As she eavesdropped, Crystal shifted and the broom handle slid across the wall to land in the corner. She stopped dead, willing even her fuel pump to be silent, and prayed they hadn't heard that.

Megatron and Starscream did hear it. In fact, they had known she was there the entire time, courtesy of the tracker installed in her. Any Decepticon could pick up her whereabouts if they wanted to, Her signal even showed up automatically if she was close enough to them. However, neither cared if she heard. To them, it was like letting an old ship rat hear their conversation. She was a life form below them and it was inconsequential that she was a witness.

Even so, when the broom handle fell, both paused and were, admittedly, curious as to what she was doing in the closet. But each was too proud to admit it.

Megatron stepped away and released his hold on Starscream's neck. "Not a peep from that vocalizer unless it's something useful," he threatened.

Starscream remained silent and the two moved out of Crystal's line of vision. The room stayed silent and the heavy footsteps walked out, the door sliding shut behind them. As she poked her head out to make sure the place was empty, Crystal had to wonder if many of their conversations were like that. So much yelling, but when it was over, just business as usual. She thought back to Rumble and Frenzy. Maybe that was just how Decepticons talked to each other.

When all looked clear she quickly went to work: shattered cube in the trash, energon wiped off the wall. Then she put her personal stamp of approval on the room and left to find another job to do. She started down the hall, turning a corner to see Megatron coming up toward her as if he had forgotten something. She quickly hid back behind the wall and took off as fast as she could in the other direction.

Megatron turned the corner just as she disappeared around the next corner down the hall. He narrowed his optics in the direction she had gone. This maintenance bot was displaying some very strange behavior as of late. As much as the thing had annoyed him recently, he was curious to see what it would do next.

* * *

Bluestreak poked his head into the artillery closet near the back of the Ark, next to the Dinobot caves. It was jokingly called "Smokescreen's office" these days, thanks to all the time he spent in it. It was slowly accumulating more and more equipment, mostly experimental and all compliments of Wheeljack.

When not on duty, Smokescreen spent his free time in here. While he had never been a social Autobot, he still got around enough for the others to notice that this was a huge deviation from his regular behavior.

As a collector of underground information, Smokescreen did have a certain obsessive side to him when he got an idea in his head. His younger brother, Prowl, was exactly the same way.

Bluestreak, while considered part of the family to some degree, was not related to either of them and therefore did not share that particular family trait. In fact, he had a talent all his own in which he could tell when one had been obsessing too much and it was time to intervene. When he popped in at that specific moment, he knew it was time to tell Smokescreen "enough," whether or not he wanted to hear it.

The Autobot in question was camped on the floor with his various tools, screens and scanners situated in a semi circle around him. Each piece of equipment had a different job, scanning for a different frequency or energy or whatever else he could think of.

Smokescreen didn't even look up when Bluestreak came inside. He was too transfixed on the screen in the middle.

"Picking up anything interesting?"

Smokescreen glanced up at him, but only for a second. "Nothing new, really."

Bluestreak crouched next to him on the floor. "Do you think maybe you've chased away anything that might have been in here with all of this?" He motioned to the equipment. "Maybe if you gave it a break, it would eventually come back."

Smokescreen's back strut and door panels creaked as he stretched. "You know, Bluestreak, I thought about that, but the more I research, the more I'm starting to think it's not me at all."

"Oh?" Bluestreak scooted closer, genuinely curious. "What do you mean?"

"Of course, I tried to find any Cybertronian records of any instance of conversing with a spark after it has left its body. There's very little to speak of. Looking into human data files, however, there is a staggering amount of information. Humans are fascinated with the dead. They are constantly trying to get in contact with them. There are even certain types of humans who, supposedly, are born with special powers that allow them to... communicate somewhat with spirits."

He adjusted his shoulders, door panels flicking rhythmically as he thought. "I wonder if it was maybe all her-- that she had some of those powers and with her gone, there is no way I can get any reaction."

Bluestreak tipped his head. "You think Crystal is psychotic?"

"Psychic, Bluestreak, the word is psychic. And I was thinking more like she was a spiritual medium. She said once to me it was possible she heard the spirit of the dead because she, too, once had died. I'm not sure if she had any of these powers when she was human."

The way the two Autobots referred to her were completely different. Bluestreak always said "she is" while Smokescreen had adopted the past tense, "she was". It was the same way throughout the base. Some Autobots had accepted her loss and believed the Decepticons had killed her. Others still refused to give up hope. It had started a few heated debates between those who wanted to honor her memory respectfully and move on and those who were unwilling to give up on the idea that she was still alive somehow.

"So why are you trying to so hard to do this?" Bluestreak wondered. "At first, I just thought you were trying to find something to distract you. Like how Jazz has been doing all Prowl's paper work so he can have something to keep himself occupied and Prowl has been going over strategies like crazy. Boy, after that last fight we had, you just know he's got more plans for the Decepticons. It's his job, after all, and as long as it keeps him busy and makes him feel like he's making a difference then I say go for it.

"But you hiding in here, I don't know if this is such a good thing for you to do with your time. I know everyone is sad over Crystal missing and we all kind of think we failed and we don't know what to do, but I don't know if this is the best way to deal with it, hiding in the closet all day long. You know if you want to talk about it instead, I can actually be a good listener when I want to be."

Smokescreen gave him a bit of a pained look. It seemed the grey Datsun had already worn out his welcome and Smokescreen was getting tired of him.

"That's not why I'm in here. Nobody gets it. I really need to know what that Decepticon knows."

"Why? Why do you need to know so bad?"

Smokescreen tapped the side of his nose. "Kid, sometimes you can learn a lot about the future by looking into the past. And my nose is telling me that there's definitely something to be learned here. Think about it. Exactly how important would something have to be to stop you from joining the matrix for 9 to 10 million years?"

"Wow, I didn't think about it that way," Bluestreak marveled.

"That's right you didn't," Smokescreen said as he turned back to his screens. "Now go pester someone else with your good intentions. I'm busy."

* * *

It was impossible to ignore, even from an upper level. It sounded like an all-out demolition derby was going on below Crystal's feet. Part of her felt it would be smart to not go near the sound because she was small and, regrettably, easy to break. But another part of her said that if the commotion related to something she had fixed, she was in trouble. Or if not that, then it would be something she would have to fix when it was over. It might be best to at least take a cautious peek to see what she might be up against before Megatron had a chance to order her to clean it up anyway.

Whatever was going on, it was big. Crystal could feel the vibrations. It felt like whole parts of the base were being rocked by some unknown force. At one time, her fuel pump jumped at the thought of it being an Autobot rescue mission, but she quickly dismissed the idea before too much disappointment could set in. There was no way that was what was going on. There was no panic in the base. No alarms, or panicked soldiers or fighting. The Nemesis was not under attack from something outside. But there was definitely something going on within.

She followed the sounds of crashing and banging until she could hear shouts and the roaring of engines as well. Strangely enough, there were actual tire tracks on the walls in this area and scorch marks everywhere. What was this place, some kind of war/racing hall?

Near the end, large double doors had been left open. Crystal slowly inched her head over as far as she dared just to get a small peek at what was going on inside. But when she saw the full scene, she stumbled out to get a better look, completely forgetting about not being seen.

Inside, a massive room was filled with Decepticons. The first thing that jumped to Crystal's mind was that it looked like an all-out robot rodeo. Wildrider was in the middle of it all, in car mode and spinning around in circles like he was practicing for the world's fastest NASCAR race. Advancing on his manic display were Soundwave and the two jet Decepticons that looked like Starscream. Starscream himself was nowhere to be found. Neither was Megatron. On the outskirts near the wall were the other Stunticons, just standing around watching and hollering, looking like they needed popcorn for their extremely entertaining show.

Skywarp took a chance to be the winner of this strange exhibition and warped himself on top of Wildrider's hood, planting his feet on the ground to stop the car's retreat. In turn, Wildrider promptly screamed something about how he would never be taken alive and drove nose first into the wall. Skywarp took the brunt of the hit, his wings slapping the flat surface and making his whole body shutter from the vibrations. Wildrider was no worse for wear thanks to his personal force shield and he sped off again.

The other Stunticons whooped and laughed at the seeker as he staggered back to his feet, one hand supporting the small of his back. He growled at their uselessness.

"How about helping us, you lazy, good-for-nothing slaggers?" he demanded.

"Are you kidding?" Breakdown shot back. "We have to work with him after this. There's no frakin' way we're going in there."

Skywarp silently renewed his vow to Primus that he would one day choke himself a Stunticon.

On the other side, Soundwave had Rumble and Frenzy to help him, though they really weren't much help at all. It was near impossible for anyone to get their hands on the frantic Stunticon. All the while, Wildrider leaked all sorts of fluids everywhere, his injuries still quite grievous.

Crystal didn't realize she was wandering into the room until Wildrider spun and swerved in her direction. A black and blue arm shot out in front of her to back her up to a safe distance. It was just enough to keep the Stunticon from colliding with her shins before peeling out in another direction.

The owner of the arm was Thundercracker. Crystal glanced up at his face, wondering why he saved her. Thundercracker's expression was blank as always. Never any animosity towards her, just always plodding along dutifully, doing whatever needed to be done. That seemed to be the extent of his function. He only glanced at her for a minute before turning his attention back to the rogue Stunticon.

"We're just all going to have to jump on him at once," Skywarp said to Thundercracker. "Close in on him and flip him off his wheels, okay?"

Thundercracker nodded, as did Soundwave. The other Stunticons "oohed" and jeered as another attempt to catch Wildrider went into action.

At Soundwave's silent order, Frenzy and Rumble ran to collide with the speeding Wildrider. Personal shield or not, Wildrider couldn't keep control when both sets of pile drivers hit him as hard as they could. The Stunticon spun out, losing traction for a moment in his own leaking fluids. As soon as he lost control, Skywarp and Thundercracker jumped him, weighing him down before tipping Wildrider on his hood, tires still squealing. The other Stunticons cheered for their teammate who seemed to have lost his mind completely at this point.

As Soundwave ran to join them, Wildrider tried to fight his way into his robot mode. There was a horrible squealing and scraping of metal as he did so.

"You fraggers won't take me back there!" Wildrider screamed at them. "I'll offline myself first! I'm not going to be part of those rejects' experiments!"

"You stupid glitch head," Skywarp growled as he tried to pin down the flailing limbs. "We're not taking you to the Constructicons. Soundwave, do something!"

Soundwave pulled out a tool from his subspace only to have it instantly kicked out of his hand. He tried to help hold down Wildrider to reach for it, but it was no use. He needed either to let the Stunticon go or leave the tool.

But then a much smaller pair of black hands picked it up and handed it to him. Then Crystal went around to the other side, pulling out one of her own tools. She took it to Wildrider's neck and suddenly half the power to his arms and legs was cut, making him much easier to hold down.

"What?!" Wildrider squealed, his voice going even higher in panic. "What did you do to me?! Help! Motormaster! Drag Strip! Get these freaks off of me!"

"Stop," Crystal told him, rapping him on the forehead with her instrument. "You're being a huge baby."

"Easy for you to say," Wildrider snapped back at her. "You don't know them like I do!"

"I know you left me alone with two of them while you got your sorry ass to safety and I'm still here."

Wildrider made a growling noise deep in his throat and deep in his engine. Soundwave was already working as quickly as he could on the open injuries and there was nothing the Stunticon could do about it now.

"He's right to worry, you know," said Breakdown who was suddenly crouched next to Skywarp. "I hear the Constructicons have some sort of bizarre experiment in their back labs where they're taking parts from other mechs to build some kind of sparkless monster."

Wildrider began to struggle harder and Skywarp slapped Breakdown away before he could do more damage.

"Hey 'Rider," said Drag Strip with a huge grin as he knelt over his head. "I can give you something else to worry about if you like."

He made a gagging sound in the back of his throat and Wildrider's optics grew with a new horror.

"Oh Primus, no! No Drag Strip! No! Stop! Stop! Drag Strip!"

Crystal was quite sure robots didn't have any saliva, but somehow Drag Strip managed to gather up some nasty looking brown fluid which was now dripping from his lips like a viscous ball of spit right towards Wildrider's face. Even Skywarp was laughing now as Wildrider continued to plead and thrash, trying to get away from the nasty substance slowly dripping towards him.

If Crystal had eyes, she would have rolled them. Boys. That's exactly what it was like: they were acting like little boys.

It was then Soundwave announced "Repairs complete" and closed Wildrider up, though he was still caked in his own fluids.

"Honestly," Crystal muttered as she tweaked his neck, giving him back full power in his limbs.

Wildrider jumped to life before Drag Strip could finish his torture and the two tumbled around on the ground, Wildrider yelling at his laughing teammate.

Both seekers visibly relaxed now that the task was over. Without really thinking about it, Crystal addressed Thundercracker who was sitting across from her.

"Nice job," she offered, extending her fist to him.

Thundercracker looked down at her hand. "What?"

"Make a fist like this," she told him.

Thundercracker copied her motions and she bumped her fist against his. "Yeah!"

Thundercracker's optics flickered lighter for a moment, almost as if he enjoyed it. Breakdown looked at the fist bump suspiciously.

"With all the racket that's been going on down here, someone better have a reasonable explanation, now!" Megatron demanded as he stormed in.

Crystal instantly ducked behind Skywarp's impressive wingspan and began crawling towards the door before Megatron could notice her. Soundwave stood to greet his leader.

"Stunticon Wildrider now repaired," he reported.

"I can see that." Megatron watched Wildrider and Drag Strip continue to tussle while Crystal inched along the wall behind him while his attention was diverted.

Crystal managed to skirt around the doorframe and take off down the hall, once again avoiding detection. Crisis averted, for now.

* * *

Crystal had to wait quite a while for all Decepticons to eventually vacate the large room on the lower levels. She tried to keep herself busy with other things in the meantime, attending to smaller tasks but poking her head back in from time to time. Finally, the room was empty and Crystal was free to clean and repair it after such a crazy event.

The fluids weren't so bad to clean. It was the tire tracks that were a real chore to try to scrape off. Not to mention the severe dents all over the walls. This was going to take some time. But Crystal had not yet allowed a room to beat her. She attacked each new mark, stain and dent vigorously, determined to finish the task.

After a few hours of cleaning, Crystal straightened up and rubbed at her shoulders. The joints would soon need maintenance; she could feel it. But she had no idea what to do for them. Knees and even elbows she could care for herself, to some extent. Her shoulders and back, however, were completely out of reach. If they got too bad, what was she supposed to do?

She already knew asking Hook was out of the question. She was afraid of going under his knife just as much as Wildrider was. What if she asked Soundwave? He had already fixed her once. But she really hated asking any of them. She just didn't trust them. There was always that fear deep down that if she asked for help from any of them they would start laughing in her face. Her pride just couldn't take that right now. Crystal decided she would wait and see what happened. If it got worse, maybe she would find the right time to ask Soundwave for assistance. For now, she would just deal with it.

Crystal was also trying not to rub at her optics. She was getting tired again; she would need to sleep soon. That was also a request she was not looking forward to making.

"Hey babe, still working hard I see."

Crystal paused from scrubbing tire marks, mop handle still in hand. Leaning against the doorframe was one of the Stunticons, Breakdown, she recalled his name was.

"Babe?" she repeated. "Did you just call me babe?"

The title more surprised than offended her. Usually she was referred to as "it" or "maintenance bot" or the occasional "Hey you". To be called anything that actually specified her gender was something new.

"Sure did, honey," Breakdown replied as he sauntered casually into the room. "It's nice to see something with some color to brighten up the room."

Crystal jumped as he patted her rear on his way past her. She was about to break the mop handle over his stupid head when the rest of the Stunticons shuffled in. Being in a room full of Decepticons who had nothing to keep their attention made her nervous.

However, her fear seemed unfounded when they all wandered past her to the area in the far corner. When Crystal first came in, it was all upturned furniture and a broken screen on the ground. She had righted everything, repaired the screen, and put it back up to where it belonged.

The Stunticons made no sign that they realized anything had been broken in the first place. They merely plopped themselves down on the furniture and flipped on the screen. The Maury show was on with a woman who had already had DNA tests done on three men, but was _certain _this fourth one was her real baby daddy. The Stunticons were whooping right along with the crowd when bachelor number four started dancing around after it was found he was not the father, either. Crystal couldn't tear her optics away from the strange sight.

But then again, what did she expect? Some of the Autobots were avid TV viewers as well. And it wasn't like there was a Cybertronian Entertainment Channel. In some ways, the Decepticons and the Autobots weren't all that different.

"You look tired, come join me."

Crystal turned to the voice that had addressed her. One of the Stunticons was not jeering with his fellows around the TV. Dead End was sitting at a table by himself as he often did. Crystal leaned her mop against the wall and joined him.

"Interesting to see you down here," he said to her. "It isn't often we have visitors in our quarters, aside from the fiasco earlier, that is."

Crystal was suddenly mortified. "These are your quarters?! I didn't know! I just thought it was a big... rec room or something. I'm sorry. I thought all the private quarters were on the upper level."

"Quite alright," Dead End waved her away. "As you probably saw, it needed a good cleaning. We aren't necessarily always welcome on the upper levels. They prefer we stay down here."

"Why is that?" Crystal wondered. "You're all Decepticons, aren't you? Why would they segregate you like that?"

"It's because we're _different_," Breakdown hissed in a hushed tone, joining them at the table. "That's why they don't trust us."

Crystal tipped her head curiously. Why wouldn't the Decepticons trust their own? How could they function as a unit without trust of their own kind?

"I do believe it's the fact that we never do what we're told that leads to the distrust," Dead End pointed out.

"That, too," Breakdown replied flippantly.

"So what is the thing with the Constructicons all about?" Crystal wondered. "I don't see them trying to get their hands on any of the jets. So why do they want to get ahold of one of you so badly?"

"Because of Vector Sigma."

That was not a name she was familiar with. "What does that mean?"

"In the very core of Cybertron is this floating orb of power called Vector Sigma," said Breakdown, obviously enjoying this story. "It's believed to be a direct connection to Primus. When a new Cybertronian is built, there is a key used in which Vecor Sigma gives life--the spark-- into the new body and a new being is born."

_Huh,_Crystal though. _So that's where little Autobots and Decepticons come from._

"The thing is," Breakdown continued. "No one knows how to make these Vector Sigma keys any more so there haven't been any new sparks in, like, millions of years. But we've been around for only about 20 to 25 Earth years because Megatron happened to find one of these keys."

_Seriously? They're the same age I am._

"So long story short," Dead End offered. "We are the only Decepticons created in millions of years. Our special abilities were given to us by the divine will of Vector Sigma. The Constructicons would love to take us apart to learn our science and test our new sparks. This to an end where they could possibly build more Decepticons without a Vector Sigma Key. They're meaning to replace us, no doubt. I keep saying it's only a matter of time until we're rendered obsolete."

"So... why again can't anyone make more Cybertronians?" Crystal wondered. "What happened, exactly?"

Breakdown leaned in, his optics shining with excitement. "No one knows. One day it seemed anyone who had knowledge of the technology just vanished."

Crystal leaned forward herself, getting pulled into the story. "What happened to them?"

"Aliens," Breakdown said with all seriousness.

"Aliens?" she repeated in a flat, disappointed voice.

Dead End groaned. "Here we go again with the conspiracy theories."

"Aliens abducted them all, a whole generation of Cybertronians," Breakdown insisted. "Strange squid-like aliens with tentacles and multiple faces. They took them all away so we couldn't build any more of us. For what reason, Primus only knows for sure..."

"What is wrong with you, only Primus knows for sure," said the yellow form of Drag Strip as he sat next to Crystal. He put his attention on her, completely changing the subject of the conversation. "So what does this mean, exactly?" He held up his fist to her like she had done with Thundercracker earlier.

"This?" Crystal wondered as she did the fist bump with him. "It's just a thing you do when you do something good or to congratulate someone. Like a high five."

"What's a high five?"

"Hold up your hand like this." Crystal slapped Drag Strip's open palm. "And then there's the double."

She held both of her palms out and Drag Strip copied her. She slapped her hands on his and then held hers up, waiting for him to return the gesture. It took him a moment, then he slapped his palms on hers, liking how that felt.

"Nice," Crystal agreed and then did the fist bump with him again. "Like a secret handshake."

"Oh, that's what we need!" Breakdown put in. "So when the Constructicons try to replace us with clones, we'll be able to tell the real ones from the fakes!"

Any further conversation was interrupted as an extremely angry Skywarp burst into the room.

"Alright you slag heads, which one of you did this while I was recharging?!"

Someone had taken red paint and marked up the seeker's wings and cockpit with funny faces, lewd pictures, and rude comments about the wearer. He was also sporting an impressive handlebar mustache.

"Yeah!" Drag Strip whooped as he jumped from his chair. "Down with seekers! High five!" He slapped palms with Breakdown.

"Cars rule and jets drool!" jeered Wildrider from across the room. "So suck my exhaust, fly boy!"

Skywarp looked fit to start something serious until the massive and smirking form of Motormaster got up from his seat. Skywarp muttered threats under his breath as he retreated from the room.

The Stunticons continued laughing long after Skywarp was gone as Crystal shook her head. Her first impression was correct. They all acted like little boys.

* * *

Sometime later, Soundwave wandered down to the level that was covered with tire tracks along the walls. This time, the large double doors were closed. Soundwave pressed the buzzer, alerting the residents that he was outside.

After a few moments, one of the double doors slid open with a sour-looking Wildrider standing behind it. The fact that Soundwave had repaired him earlier, possibly saving his life from a slow bleedout, didn't seemed to register with him. The Stunticons chose who they hated and who they tolerated at random. Sometimes it would change on a daily basis.

"What do you want, Sound-Lame?"

"So witty, as always," came Dead End's voice from inside.

"Tracking signal confirms maintenance bot inside," Soundwave explained.

Wildrider gave a shifty shrug. "Yeah, well the boys 'an I are having our way with her. You can have her back when we're done."

Soundwave could easily see over the shorter Decepticon. His optic band picked up a bundle of magenta paint resting on a row of chairs turned into a make-shift bed. She was sleeping peacefully among the wolves and they didn't seem to mind or bother her one bit.

An understanding had been reached that night. None of the other Decepticons understood what it was like to be so different and to be looked down upon like lower life forms. The Stunticons were at the bottom of the social ladder. While they didn't mind it, this was their first time conversing with another being who knew what it was like to be looked upon as something that didn't belong.

Tonight, she could be different with them. Tomorrow, maybe they would change their minds.

Secretly, Soundwave was a bit disappointed he wasn't getting the chance to observe Crystal's sleeping behavior personally. But it wasn't worth stirring up a nest of hornets for the privilege. The Stunticons were offering her shelter from the storm for tonight. Tomorrow could be different. He was a patient mech; he could wait for the next opportunity.

"Acceptable," was all Soundwave said.

"Slaggin' right it's acceptable," Wildrider shot back. "Now get off of our floor."

Wildrider pressed the button to make the door slide shut in Soundwave's face for the final word and dramatic effect. The door, however, had other ideas as it screeched slowly closed with a hideous noise, ruining all the drama. Wildrider frowned as Soundwave turned to leave. Theatrics were wasted on him anyway.

When that maintenance bot woke up, Wildrider had a job for her.


	6. Desperation

The Secret Lives of Decepticons

Chapter Six: Desperation

Prowl tapped his stylus on his data pad as he sat in his office. There were no lights on, save for the small lamp on his desk, and that suited him just fine. A dark room for dark thoughts. He was grateful Jazz was gone for once, allowing him to sink into himself and let his thoughts consume him. Jazz had been an ever-present shadow around him as of late. Prowl still wasn't sure for whose benefit he stayed, whether he was afraid to leave Prowl alone or afraid of being left alone himself. But Prowl had gotten tired of looking at him, both his face and that hideous gash that still adorned his chest armor.

Perhaps Jazz was getting tired of him as well. He had certainly made himself scarce that day. It was nice for both of them to get away and have some time to themselves. It allowed Prowl to think without distraction.

Again and again he went over his plan. Optimus Prime had given him full authority to see it through. Most of the Autobots were willing to play their part, leaving aside personal opinions of whether or not they thought there was something left to fight for. There was still, for some, the motivation of revenge.

Prowl was never a mech for revenge. Logic dictated it earned him nothing but a hollow self-satisfaction that only lasted a few kliks until deeper guilt set in. No, revenge was not a worthwhile pursuit to him at all, no matter the reason. But Prowl was a mech who believed in solid facts and those drove him forward. Without a body, without proof that Crystal was dead, he would not be done fighting.

This plan was a last act of desperation in search of answers. Prowl was certain that as long as all went well, it would work. He went over scenario after scenario in his processor, accounting for every possible outcome, generating contingency plans for whatever might come his way, though he was sure which results were most likely. Megatron was strong, cunning and ruthless, but he was also predictable in certain situations. Besides, Prowl was forcing onto him the goal that drove all living beings: survival.

After the attack on the Nemesis, the Autobots waited as long as they could for Megatron to make the next move. When he never did, Prowl decided it was time to force his hand. They would hit the Decepticons hard until they gave up what Prowl wanted. He would thwart any energy attempt, crippling Megatron's numbers each time. But he couldn't kill any Decepticons. Prowl needed them all alive. More soldiers made for a faster drain on resources. He was going to starve them out, starve them until either they dropped from exhaustion or Megatron offered to negotiate. It was all up to him.

And Megatron WOULD eventually give her up. She was hardly worth allowing him and his troops to starve to death. The only question was in what condition she would be returned. Prowl's logic circuits told him over and over that still had to be alive in some form or other. If the Decepticons had killed her, Megatron would have left the body on their doorstep so he could gloat. It would be too tempting not to.

She had to be alive. It made sense that she was still alive. However, it was also logical to assume that she had not remained unharmed under the Decepticons' care. Whatever condition they got her back in, Prowl fervently hoped she would be able to recover both physically and emotionally.

Thinking of what the Decepticons could possibly be doing to her right now made Prowl halt himself before his imagination got away with him. Emotions welled up at the thought and his battle computer was no longer there to suppress them. Prowl rubbed his optics as he forced them back down. He couldn't let his emotions control him now. He could do this without his battle computer if he stayed focused. There would be time enough to break down, if need be, after it was all over. He would stay strong until he got her back.

* * *

Starscream took a small sip of energon and scowled. It tasted awful. He smashed the cube on the floor, not three feet from the garbage can Crystal installed so the Decepticons would stop throwing them on the floor. This energy crisis was getting serious. The liquid was so diluted now it could hardly be called energon. Something needed to be done. Megatron should be doing something about this. Where was his lazy leader? Had he any plans for this problem at all?

If he did, Megatron had not shared. Come to think of it, he had not said much to Starscream at all recently. The seeker had no idea what was on Megatron's processor as of late. And whose fault was that?

As if Primus offered an answer, Crystal came into the room and frowned at the broken cube on the floor. Her accusing gaze instantly turned to Starscream who was standing right next to it with a splatter of very low grade energon still on his foot.

"Really?" she demanded. "The trash is right over there. You couldn't have walked the extra two feet? I swear, all of you, it's like living with children."

Starscream ignored her accusations and stood over her, looking just as displeased. "I noticed you don't spend time with Megatron or Soundwave any more. How are you going to get information for me if you are never around them?"

Crystal's mouth fell open a little. Oh yeah, she was supposed to be doing that. She worked her jaw a bit trying to find an answer. "I can't be near Megatron. I've been his favorite punching bag lately, if you haven't noticed. If I go crowding his space now, he'll probably just kill me."

"Not my problem," Starscream shot back. "May I remind you that there are other Decepticons around her that would happily beat Megatron to the punch in that area?"

Crystal shrugged weakly. "The Stunticons won't hurt me. I mean, they tried to at first. But I think after I helped one of them--"

"The Stunticons?" Starscream mimicked in a mocking voice. "So you entertained them and listened to their paranoid stories for one night. They're not going to stick their necks out for you." He put a hand on her shoulder, which Crystal did not appreciate. "Trust me, I am your only friend here."

"Lucky me."

"Yes, you are. Now go find Megatron and pick his brain for me. See if he's got any plans he's working on."

"Why don't you go ask him? You're his _respected_ air commander. Why wouldn't he tell you what he's working on?"

"Because," Starscream shot back with a frown, "Megatron only bequeaths me with what information he sees fit. If I want to know what he is plotting in its entirety, I have to gather information by other means."

Crystal gave him a look that said that piece of logic didn't make sense to her whatsoever. "It's not exactly my fault that he doesn't trust you. Maybe you should consider being more upfront with him instead of sneaking around, and then he would let you in on this information that you're dying to know."

Starscream grabbed her arm as if she were being a disobedient child. "Maybe you should consider how close you are to the brink of extinction while you are here," he hissed with a venomous voice. "Megatron may not have given orders to exterminate you, but that doesn't mean there are those of us who still wouldn't do it, given enough cause. Believe me, for something as insignificant as you, little maintenance bot, the punishment would not be that steep."

Crystal's optics widened as the horrible realization set in that Starscream was terribly correct. She existed by the grace of every Decepticon here. While she was making herself useful, she was not so valuable that Megatron would favor her over any one of his soldiers, even if they went against his wishes not to kill her. Not even Starscream would get anything more than a slap on the wrist and a scowl from his distrustful leader if he did anything to her.

Upon seeing that he had made his point quite vividly, Starscream let her go. "Now, I suggest you decide who is your greatest evil and worry about appeasing him, first."

Upon the mention of greater evils, Megatron himself stepped into the room, appearing to be looking for someone in particular. His optics leveled on the two of them. "There you are," he said, making each one wonder if he was talking to them.

Crystal instantly looked down in submission, praying he wasn't angry with her.

"Starscream, come with me," Megatron ordered. "We have something to discuss."

The seeker threw Crystal a look that told her it would be wise to consider what he said very carefully. Then he followed Megatron out the door.

Crystal allowed herself to relax once both Decepticons were gone. But she knew her problems were not over. She had unknowingly entered into a dangerous Catch 22. If she helped Starscream, she risked death from Megatron's hands if he ever found out. But if she didn't, Starscream would see to her death himself, most likely by way of allowing surlier Decepticons to do his work for him. He didn't seem the type to dirty his hands himself if he could help it.

There was no doubt in her mind that if she wanted to survive these two superpowers, something needed to be done. She just didn't know what.

* * *

It wasn't often Megatron came to Starscream looking for answers. Usually he came to Starscream looking for someone to blame. So this was a very rare occasion, indeed, when Megatron set forth a proposition that Starscream not only lead the next energy raid, but pick a target and orchestrate the entire mission. This set him up to receive full glory and credit if it was a success. It also meant he would receive full shame and accusation if it failed.

But the notion of failure hardly ever entered into Starscream's designs. He always acted with the assurance of victory. That was the way he worked. In his philosophy, those who prepare for failure will surely find it. One must prepare for success, always.

With that in mind, Starscream put together his plan. He assembled his dream team: Thundercracker and Skywarp, plus Blitzwing and Astrotrain. Thrust, Dirge and Ramjet were not invited. Starscream had been butting heads with the trio a bit lately over their new captive. He felt he couldn't afford any dissension should hard feelings come up during the mission. This was not an excursion he had leeway to mess around with. It had to be a quick job, in and out, no mistakes. Failure would mean the entirety of the Decepticon forces would be in dire straits. It was make it or break it time.

Starscream's target of choice was the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant stationed on the coast of California. It was far enough away that the land-bound Autobots could not get to it quickly, but not so far that they would be expending a large amount of energy to fly there. Starscream also decided that attacking under the cover of darkness would be more prudent than a daytime raid. The Decepticons didn't usually adhere to the solar cycles of Earth while making their plans, but Starscream wasn't leaving anything to chance. Anything that could give him an extra leg up was worth consideration.

That night, the five jets flew low, careful so as not to be detected. Even Skywarp was forbidden to warp ahead. No one was to know they were in California airspace, not the humans, not the Autobots, until they had already begun the energy harvest. It would take the Autobots a few hours at least to drive all the way down and any human retaliation could be dealt with until then.

Below them, the plant came into view. Heavy lights clustered around the rectangular building and its white domes glowed slightly in the darkness. Starscream radioed the signal to descend.

Under his direction, they tore through the part of the roof that was directly above the generators and climbed inside the massive building. Starscream himself saw to the killing of the warning alarms with his null rays before any members of the plant's night shift could call for help.

So far, everything was going as planned. Swiftly, Starscream put his troops into action. Without Soundwave and his ability to make the energon cubes, they'd had to bring their own device. Thundercracker was setting it up and it was already pumping out empty shells at a good pace. Blitzwing helped Skywarp fill the cubes while Astrotrain transformed and waited to be loaded.  
Thundercracker packed the cubes as they began to pile up. Even Starscream helped. They needed to be as fast as possible. So far, it was working. What few humans were aware of the attack had already fled and were probably calling for help. That meant the Autobots were just getting wind of their activities.

Still, Starscream wasn't going to leave anything to chance if by some unfortunate coincidence the Autobots either somehow picked up on the raid sooner or happened to have troops nearby. No matter how smoothly things were going, Starscream insisted they follow a timetable. Once time was up, they would take what they had and leave. Even if it wasn't near the amount the entire army needed to be at full capacity, Starscream wasn't going to risk what they had for the sake of greed. A small amount of energy was better than no energy at all.

The cubes were piled higher and Starscream tasted victory. His plan had worked! They were going to get out of here with a full load before the Autobots could even enter the state borders. Let Megatron see his victory! He hoped his leader choked on the energon he was about to bring him!

Thundercracker turned to load more cubes as laser fire shot out from the hole in the ceiling. It pierced his wing and into his shoulder. He cried out in pain and surprise and Starscream snapped his head around to stare at the darkness outside. His optics widened to twice their size as more fire came from the gaping hole and then Autobots began to spill inside.

"No!" he shrieked in disbelief. "No! No! No! This isn't possible!"

Brawn grinned at Bluestreak while the seeker threw his fit. "Sounds like 'ol Screamer's not too happy to see us."

Bluestreak raised his blaster to his shoulder. "Maybe some fancy shooting will cheer him up." He effortlessly shot the energon cube in Starscream's hands.

Starscream shrieked again as it exploded in his fingers.

"Hm... maybe not," Bluestreak smirked.

"Stay sharp, Bluestreak," Prowl said as he dropped down next to them. "Remember, the most important objective is that these Decepticons leave without a single scrap of energy. If they retreat empty-handed, let them go. But do not let them leave with the energon."

"Roger that, Prowl." Bluestreak had a beautiful shot at Astrotrain's open hull, filled with energon cubes. "I can blow the main supply right now."

He had apparently said it loud enough because Astrotrain regurgitated the entire load onto the floor before transforming into his robot mode and leaping out of the line of fire.

"You coward!" Starscream spat at him. "Get back here!"

"Oh and I suppose YOU want to feel an entire load of energon cubes explode in your cockpit?" he shot back.

Starscream could hardly argue that, but he was still extremely unhappy.

One Decepticon, however, was grinning at the sight of the Autobots. "Here, 'Cracker," Skywarp said as he handed the blue seeker his latest filled cube. "I won't be gone long."

The second the cube left his fingers, Skywarp disappeared. Bluestreak was lining up another shot when his blaster was yanked out of his grasp. He looked up just in time to see Skywarp shove the butt of his own weapon right into his face, shattering his optics. The Autobot sharpshooter wouldn't be using his talents against them again for awhile.

"Bluestreak!" Prowl called as the gray Datsun stumbled from the assault.

He charged the Decepticon, but Skywarp had already disappeared. He rematerialized a second later right behind Prowl and shoved the two Datsuns into each other with a hearty laugh. Primus, he loved his job ... and his warp drive. He could damage Autobots all day if he was allowed, though that killjoy Starscream always ordered him to back off before he could have his fill of destruction.

Skywarp disappeared again as Brawn swung at him. Now all Decepticons present were firing at will at the Autobots. Skywarp merrily dodged the laser fire, throwing off shots and attacking Autobots as he pleased.

Prowl, with a damaged Bluestreak in his arms, knew he had to be stopped soon. Skywarp could keep Prowl's entire troop busy if he had to so the others could get away with the energon. Prowl couldn't let that happen no matter what.

As luck would have it, there was an Autobot who had the skills to put Skywarp in his place.

It happened all at once, too fast for Prowl to see with the normal optic. Skywarp suddenly stood over himself and Bluestreak, but at the same time, so did Red Alert. He was the only Autobot on Earth who could see Skywarp coming. At just the right time, Red Alert shoved the barrel of his gun into open space one microsecond before that space was taken up with Skywarp's mass.  
Now Red Alert had a weapon inhabiting Skywarp's insides. Without the thick armor to protect him, one pull of the trigger would mess the seeker up quite a bit. A look of horror spread over Skywarp's face at the realization. Red Alert's face mirrored the same expression, as if he wasn't quite prepared for that amount of brutality.

"Now Red!" Brawn barked. "Before he warps away!"

Before Red Alert could accept or reject the order, Brawn's hand was already on his and he pulled the trigger.

Skywarp lurched as he was shot from the inside, his face looking as if he had just eaten something that didn't agree with him. Red Alert shook, his hand barely gripping the gun. Brawn took it in a tight grip and kicked Skywarp away from it.

The seeker stumbled back, smoke now pouring from the open wound. His face went blank, optics flickering. Then a small trail of energon dribbled out of his mouth before he fell over.  
Red Alert was still a bit stunned at the macabre display. It wasn't that he had never killed anyone before or seen others, friend or enemy, be killed. But there was something different about seeing anyone take on serious damage right in front of his face that got him every time.

He did not have long to get over it as Thundercracker charged, both arm cannons firing at full force. The Autobots scrambled to find cover, Prowl practically dragging the blinded Bluestreak by the arm. Thundercracker's assault ended when the Autobots scattered. His face was blank, but the attack spoke volumes. With the Autobots chased away, he bent to retrieve Skywarp's twitching, smoking body.

"Thundercracker!" Starscream barked. "Put him down and help us save the energon!"

Thundercracker ignored the order even as Starscream continued to shriek his name. His face remained blank, as usual, as he hauled the body that looked exactly like his own over his shoulders. For a moment, his optics locked with Prowl's as he ignited his thrusters.

The Autobot had a beautiful shot. With Thundercracker's arms completely occupied, his chest was wide open. But for the moment, the two had something in common. Prowl was trying to protect Bluestreak and Thundercracker was now risking his own life to remove his damaged wingmate from the battle.

Prowl had often wondered about the seekers. Even Bluestreak, who was made in Prowl's image, wasn't as close in design to him as the trio were to each other. They were completely identical, save their colors and personalities. Were they all brothers as well? Prowl was never able to find historical records about any of them. All three seemed to magically appear when the Decepticons were assembled. Where they came from and what relationship they had to each other, if any, was still a mystery to Prowl's data files.

Thundercracker looked once more at the Autobots before taking off out of the power plant.

"Thundercracker and Skywarp are leaving the building," Prowl radioed to his troops outside. "Let them go."

Neither seeker took any energon with them; they were free to leave. Prowl had bigger fish he wanted to fry that night.

With Bluestreak damaged and Red Alert in a bit of a shocked state, reinforcements were required to handle the remaining Decepticons. One signal from Prowl and suddenly the whole building began to shake.

Blitzwing and Astrotrain stopped firing from their defensive positions around the energon. What was that? An Earthquake or...

The side of the building nearest them was ripped away, revealing the nightmare of every Decepticon.

"D-Dinobots!" Both triple changers screeched.

There was something about the Dinobots that made the fuel of every Decepticon run cold at the sight of them. It wasn't just their massive strength, but their carnal ferocity. Despite their robot bodies, they were so animal, so alien to the Decepticons, that they were frightening.

Blitzwing instantly transformed into his tank mode and fired at them. That stalled Grimlock for a moment, but he was determined to get his teeth on something Decepticon. It had been a while and his predatory instincts demanded carnage.

Their attack distracted Starscream for only a second, but that was long enough for him to miss the white fist flying toward his face plates. The much taller seeker stumbled from Prowl's sucker punch. He was startled that the Autobot had opted to run in for close-range combat instead of opting for a shot with a blaster.

The second punch sent Starscream sprawling to the floor. The impact ruptured a small cable in his mouth, causing liquid to leak out. Starscream wiped it off with the back of his hand, but he was grinning even as Prowl stood over him.

"You look a little sore, Autobot. Was it something I said? Or maybe... something I did?"

Prowl's frown dug itself deeper on his face plate. His engine growled with restrained anger.

"Go on, Autobot," Starscream challenged. "You look like you want to say something. Anything you're just dying to ask me?"

His flippant request just made Prowl's energon boil more. He knew when he was being goaded. Starscream knew what information he was after. Prowl knew the seeker wasn't going to give it up even if he did ask. He pulled out his blaster, aiming for Starscream's spark.

"Get out," Prowl growled. "Go report yet another failed attempt to Megatron."

At the mention of his leader, Starscream's smile disappeared. "I'm certain I'm not the only one who knows what it's like to go back empty-handed."

Prowl clenched his fist, his finger twitching on the trigger. It would be so easy just to pull it.

"Tell me, Autobot, have you lost any recharge lately?" Starscream's smirk began to return. "Do the questions plague you constantly?"

The tips of Prowl's door panels shivered, but he refused to play into Starscream's manipulations. Starscream was being vague on purpose. He wanted Prowl to give something away. Prowl wasn't going to.

"I certainly assure you," Starscream went on as he discreetly felt around behind himself. "None of my actions have caused me to lose any recharge, myself." He grinned wider. "And I have done quite a bit."

Prowl twitched as if he were going to break, but Starscream didn't allow him the opportunity. He grabbed a fallen energon cube and flung it at Prowl. The cube exploded on contact, searing the Autobot's face and forearm. Starscream was opportunistic, if nothing else. He took off for the exit in the roof the second he was able.

The moment they saw he was leaving, the terrified Blitzwing and Astrotrain transformed into their flight modes and jetted out the second hole the Dinobots had made, the metal monsters still spitting fire at their thrusters.

Starscream was in such a hurry to get out, he clipped his wing on the building, wobbling and spinning for a moment as he flew out into the open air. As soon as he caught his balance again, he felt something big and heavy grab his shoulder. Starscream spun on his attacker, optics ablaze.

"So that's how you Autobots got here so quickly," Starscream spat at Skyfire. "At least they found something useful for you to do."

"Starscream," Skyfire said evenly. There was warning in the tone, but no malice.

The two jets hung high in the air amidst a sea of stars, optics locked on each other. Starscream raised his humming null ray to the larger, white jet's face.

"Release me, Skyfire. Now."

Below them, the voices of Autobots to their comrade could be heard, urging Skyfire to shoot the seeker. His arm twitched in response, fingering his own weapon.

Starscream just laughed. "Oh, you think you're going to use that on me, do you? Well then." He lowered his own weapon and spread his arms, giving Skyfire a clear shot at his chest. "Let's see you take your best shot."

With the encouragement of the voices calling to him, Skyfire raised his blaster and took aim.

Starscream was not convinced. "You can't do it," he insisted. "You're no soldier."

A look of intent crossed Skyfire's face as he fingered the trigger, but it passed just as quickly and he lowered his weapon with a sigh. "Starscream, I--"

Starscream didn't let him finish. "Useless," he spat. With that, he transformed into jet mode and took off into the air.

Skyfire watched his retreat until his thrusters looked like nothing more than extra stars in the blackness.

Below, Prowl gathered up Bluestreak and radioed orders for the Autobots to pack it up. The mission, for the most part, had been successful.

"You okay there, Prowl?" Brawn asked when he saw the full damage from Starscream's dirty little trick.

Prowl's optic still worked, but the thick skin of his arm was charred and his thinner face plates showed some damage.

"I'll be fine," Prowl said stoically. "Let's clean up and get out of here."

Bluestreak stumbled as Prowl tried to steer the blind Autobot. Grimlock watched him help Bluestreak over the rubble and out through the new door the Dinobots had made. The humans wouldn't be happy about the extra damage, but at least the city hadn't experienced any blackouts caused by the fight this time. Officials were on their way.

As the two Datsuns waited for Skyfire to land, Prowl felt the Dinobot leader rest his angular head right on top of his helm.

"This is still plan?" Grimlock wondered.

"Yes," Prowl confirmed. "We're starving them out. They're using up precious energy with every raid and we're not letting them take any back to their base. We will continue on this path until the Decepticons have either exhausted their supply and can no longer fight back, or until Megatron is finally willing to open a dialog for negotiations."

Grimlock growled a little, deep in his throat, and his heavy tail swished. "What if this not work? What if Decepticons find more energy somehow? What if they not give Crystal back?"

Prowl put a hand on the rumbling beast. He could feel the body tense and heat with anticipation of a fight. Bluestreak still sat next to them. His optics were damaged, he couldn't see at all.

But he could hear just fine and Prowl's words chilled him a bit:

"If this doesn't work, I'll let you tear that base apart."  


* * *

Starscream was the last to arrive back at base. During the entire flight back, he dreaded reaching his destination. Despite all his careful planning, the mission had been a complete flop. He would never hear the end of it from Megatron. He doubted his leader cared a scrap about fire-breathing Dinobots or Skyfire's speed enabling the Autobots to follow them. Megatron only cared about results, not excuses. It was going to be a sore reunion indeed when he returned.

Surprisingly, Megatron was not right at the landing strip, ready to tear him a new exhaust. In fact, no one was. Starscream closed the exit and lowered the tower himself back under the ocean's surface. He instantly turned and headed toward the repair bay. He hadn't been too damaged, but the rest of his team could not boast as much. They were all in the med bay with various injuries; Skywarp, obviously, had fared the worst. But they were not the only visitors in need of repair at the time.

Soundwave was in there, looking a little charred and dinged up, as well as his collection of cassettes. Thrust, Dirge and Ramjet bore similar injuries. Even Megatron himself sported all the telltale signs of having grappled with Optimus Prime.

Starscream gaped at the scene. Megatron had gone on a secondary mission at the same time _without telling him_.

"Explain yourself, Megatron!" Starscream shrieked at his leader. "You go behind my back after I risk my life for _your _cause?"

"Who risked what?" Megatron challenged, though he did not bother to stand. The raw, exposed joint of his arm sparked angrily at him. "We were out creating a distraction to ensure the success of _your _ mission, Starscream. And _you_ had the audacity to come back empty-handed with so much at stake."

Starscream sputtered at him. "W--well I didn't see you return with anything, either."

Starscream could see Megatron boil right in front of him. He wisely turned and scrambled back out the door as Megatron's cannon fire raced at his heels. He wanted to do far more damage to his air commander, but the truth of the matter was he just didn't have the energy. None of them did. They had used most of their reserves on the attacks. It was foolish of Megatron to waste even that much on Starscream.

It was time to start looking seriously at the situation. Megatron was no fool. He knew what the Autobots were up to. They were cutting off any energy supply they could, and he knew the reason for that as well. They wanted the little maintenance bot. They were going to wait until the Decepticons were desperate and then they would offer a large store of energy in return for that... ridiculous creation. It couldn't be for anything else; the only other thing he had of theirs was Ultra Magnus' space shuttle, and the Autobots seemed to have plenty of shuttles to spare.  
So that brought Megatron back to the question he kept running in his processor over and over again. Why all of this for that thing? The human creation, Nightbird, though Megatron enjoyed owning the little trinket while he had it, was hardly of much concern to either faction. But this one was held in much higher regard by the Autobots. Valuable even.

It had told him that the Autobots built it. But for what purpose? When he had interrogated it, it seemed confused at the questions. It was even possible that the Autobots had kept the reasons for its creation a secret from it. But why did they make it in the first place? Was it some kind of experiment? Did it contain important data in its lowly circuits? He couldn't be sure. What Megatron was sure of was that if the situation came to negotiation, he would only let the Autobots have their little creation back in pieces.

Speaking of which, the strange, little pink maintenance bot now hovered over his elbow, assessing the damage.

"Go away," Megatron growled at her. "I don't want--"

"Me to get my dirty, unworthy hands on His Highness, I know," Crystal finished for him. "I'm just going to brace the joint so it doesn't get any worse."

"Watch your tone around me, little one. I'm in a murderous mood," Megatron threatened back.

Crystal took a moment to weigh her options. Her ability to tolerate the daily threats on her life was wearing thin. She was getting to the point where she almost didn't care any longer. At least if she finally saw the extent of Megatron's wrath, she wouldn't have to keep worrying about it.

Now was the time to put her theory to the greatest test. The Decepticons seemed to respond best to forceful speech. No sarcasm or or snarky remarks. Just straightforwardness and confidence.

"Hey, I am trying to help you. That joint is about to give out. I would rather you didn't lose your entire arm. It would just take more time and more energy to repair."

Megatron didn't say anything, but he turned his head away from her. Crystal took that as a sign he wouldn't shoot her on the spot and set about securing the damaged joint as quickly as she could. She grunted as she cinched the heavy arm into place and then set the brace tight. It would do until Megatron could get the medical attention needed from the Decepticon of his choice.

"I dislike it when my property talks back to me," Megatron finally informed her.

"When it comes to your wellbeing, I believe I have a little leeway," Crystal said, ignoring the property comment. "Not to mention I'm the only thing on this base that doesn't guzzle energy like there's no tomorrow."

Megatron swung his head to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean Soundwave is the only one of your Decepticons actually trying to conserve what little energy you have left, turning off lights and equipment when he's not using it. The rest of you just go on your merry way with no thought to the shortage whatsoever. I mean, have you even seen Starscream's room?"

The seeker's name was repeated quietly by Megatron as he jumped off the table and stalked purposefully out of the room. Crystal watched him go with wide optics, not expecting that response. Oh well. Maybe it was for the best to get Megatron out of the repair bay for a while. Crystal always thought the less time she spent around him, the better.

Crystal turned her attention back to the med bay to see where she could help next. Neither of the combiner teams had gone out on any of the missions. There wasn't enough energy to support an attack that size. So Hook and Scrapper were both helping with repairs of Dirge and Ramjet, who seemed to have it the worst of the triplets. Soundwave, while damaged himself, was repairing his cassettes, since they wouldn't let anyone but him touch them. Currently he had a growling, though patient, Ravage on the table and was repairing his hind leg.

That left Crystal with the worst of it. Skywarp had been brought in twitching until he finally hit stasis lock and now waited for medical attention. The one who brought him in, Thundercracker, still sat next to him. He hadn't left his side.

The tendency of the Decepticons to have soldiers who looked close to or exactly like each other was irking Crystal. It made it harder to keep track of each of them, to learn their names and figure out each one's temperament. It was definitely good to know which ones were prone to short fuses and quick tempers so she could avoid them.

These two Crystal knew the least about. They were Megatron's elite and were usually doing business elsewhere than in the hallways and near the control panels Crystal spent her days repairing. The only reason she even could tell them apart from Starscream was because he kept coming around to blackmail her. Regarding these other two, all she knew was that the blue and white one was Thundercracker and the black and purple one was Skywarp.

Thundercracker, she had shared a few encounters with. He seemed quite a bit calmer than most, but also blank as far as personalities went. He didn't seem to have any aggression in him whatsoever, which was really strange to see in this setting. Even stranger was to see him sit loyally at Skywarp's side, patiently waiting for his comrade to be tended to.

He raised his head when he heard Crystal approach.

"Alright, let's get your friend looked at," Crystal announced.

The moment she said the word 'friend' it tasted funny on her mouth. Did Decepticons have friends? Most of their activity seemed to comprise posturing, threatening each other and asserting their power over one another. It was like watching a pack of wolves constantly checking to see who was top dog. Aside from Soundwave, who didn't act normal anyway, it was dog-eat-dog in the Nemesis ... but Thundercracker didn't seem to have received the memo.

Thundercracker looked up as Crystal gazed over the unfamiliar frame of Skywarp. Every Cybertronian had similar places for panel latches where medics could get into their internal circuits. It took a few moments of probing, but Crystal found them all just the same and exposed Skywarp's full internal injuries. Upon inspecting what was underneath the armor, Crystal realized, to her horror, that his armor was the extent of her knowledge for this patient.

Her optics jumped all around the body. Nothing looked familiar. Everything appeared to be in the wrong spot. What sort of horrible trick was this?

Thundercracker instantly saw her distress and responded in kind.

"What is it?" he asked, getting to his feet. "Is there something wrong with him?"

"I... don't know what to do..." Crystal admitted. At the same time she realized all her training had been with car type Cybertronians. She had never repaired a jet before. All Cybertronians had the same basics in them, but these were assimilated and disguised among all the extra functions of the jet alt mode.

"I can't help him. You'll have to wait for one of the others--"

"Try," Thundercracker insisted, moving close to her. "He hates being offline, lying helpless on the med table. Try."

Crystal thought about it. She hated not being able to deliver on the request of a Decepticon. Not only for fear of personal safety, but there was a bit of pride on the line as well. They thought so little of her, she hated to prove them right at any opportunity.

"Alright," Crystal agreed as an idea hit her. She grabbed another table and wheeled it right next to Skywarp's body. Suddenly, identical Decepticons seemed a brilliant idea.

"Get on the table and open all your panels."

Thundercracker looked mildly surprised at the order to lay down and expose himself, but he did it all the same.

Once she had both seekers side by side, Crystal stood in between their tables and looked from one to the other, from the healthy system to the damaged system. This could work.  
Unfortunately, Thundercracker's role as a live model was the extent of his ability to be helpful. He didn't seem to know much about his own systems. Considering the fact that the Decepticons didn't even have an actual medic among them, Crystal thought it wasn't the smartest life choice not to know how to repair oneself.

Still, she was able to figure things out. It even made her curious to learn more about different types. Especially the jet types. Their internal circuitry was interesting. Crystal had to fight the urge just to sit and poke around to satisfy her own curiosities. But with Thundercracker watching her every move, it kept her on task.

"This is the thing that's confusing me the most," Crystal finally said aloud as she hovered over a large hunk of hardware in Skywarp's chest. "I can't even seem to find this thing in your body."

"That must be his warp drive," Thundercracker replied. "I don't have one; only Skywarp does. But he can function without it until Soundwave or Starscream fixes it."

"Starscream knows how to fix things?" Crystal mused aloud. "Imagine that. I thought he only knew sarcasm and blackmail."

Thundercracker rotated his head curiously towards her. "Blackmail? You? Whatever for?" It was obvious from his face and tone he didn't think she had anything to offer that Starscream would find remotely useful.

Crystal just waved him off.

"So why did the Autobots make you look like that?" Thundercracker then asked.

Crystal shrugged self-consciously as she continued to work on Skywarp's repairs. "The Autobots said they only had so many materials to work with so they couldn't give me an alt mode or--"

"Not that," Thundercracker corrected. "Why do you sound female?"

Crystal stopped and looked at him. "I AM female!" she blurted out.

Thundercracker gave her a look that said he was talking to a crazy person and he thought it was best to shut up now. It was the most personality she had ever seen on his face.  
Crystal thought it best to turn back to her work and not invite any more personal questions. She was still quite sure that if any of the Decepticons found out she used to be human she would be dead, tortured, or who knows. The point was, she was far safer as long as they thought she was some sexless, artificial life form and Crystal was happy to let it stay that way.

She let her thoughts wander off as she continued to repair the large Decepticon. Her distractions caused her failure to realize Skywarp was stirring. Usually, the medic puts the body in stasis lock upon a patient's arrival. Sometimes, the injuries are so bad that the body arrives already in stasis and, if the medic doesn't complete the lock, the patient will wake up on his own.  
This was exactly what was going on at the moment. It happened so fast, it took Crystal a few seconds to realize what had occurred. She had been quietly working on repairs when she looked up and saw a massive black foot racing right at her. Crystal didn't even have time to make a sound of surprise before Skywarp's foot hit her right in the chest and sent her smaller body flying across the room.

Her vision actually flickered for a moment before she could put together what happened.

"Don't you touch me!" Skywarp snarled, wires still hanging out and laser rifle pointed at her.

He fired and Crystal curled up in a ball on the floor to protect herself. The laser charred a nice little hole in the wall right next to her shoulder.

"Autobot filth! Trying to sabotage my circuits while I'm offline!"

Crystal thought the black and purple Decepticon was going to pounce on her and start ripping her apart, and she was still too stunned to try to fight back or get away. She had never been attacked by someone she was repairing before. It was so unexpected, it threw off her reflexes.

Before Skywarp could leap off the table, Thundercracker grabbed him and held him back.

"You're fine, Skywarp. Calm down. No one did anything to you, I made sure. You were just repaired, that's all."

Skywarp turned his anger on his double. "You let it touch me," he accused.

"Only to repair you. Everyone else was busy and I didn't want to leave you offline." Thundercracker pressed the flat of his hand against Skywarp's chest and firmly pushed him back into a seated position on the table. "So calm. Down."

Skywarp sat, but there was still a growl deep in his engines. Thundercracker's panels all had instantly snapped shut when he sprung into action. Skywarp's wires and tubing were still hanging out all over the place.

Crystal couldn't put that haunted look of his out of her mind. Skywarp had seemed almost terrified for a moment when he woke up. Living in a base like this, she didn't blame him. When Thundercracker insisted his companion better put himself back together and close himself up, Crystal politely averted her optics and went to see where else she could be of use.  
So those were Thundercracker and Skywarp. Skywarp was obviously a loose cannon, while Thundercracker was his voice of reason. She still had no idea how Starscream fit into the trio, but she thought it best to continue to avoid either of these two as long as she could.

Once a safe distance away, Crystal couldn't help but glance back at them again. Her optics caught Thundercracker's. He was looking at her with that same look of curiosity as when he had asked her why she appeared female. Once she saw she was being watched, Crystal quickly looked away again.

She almost tripped over Rumble.

"Hey, watch where you're goin' stupid!" the small, purple Decepticon barked at her.

"Oops, sorry!" And then with a bit of irritation she added. "If you're that short, you shouldn't be getting underfoot."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. "Anyway, Soundwave wants you to stay away from the seekers. Decepticons keep to their own kind around here. Ya keep pokin' yer nose in other bots' business and ya gonna get scrapped."

Crystal looked at him for a moment. It felt like he was a child delivering a message for his mother who was too lazy to do it herself. But then again, no normal mother had the speech limitations Soundwave did. Maybe that's why he kept Rumble and Frenzy around, two extremely vocal little punks to make up for his own verbal shortcomings.

"So ya betta off stickin' with Soundwave an' us than those fly boys, got it? You'll be safer," Rumble continued pointedly.

Crystal eyed him. Was he talking about her recent incident with Skywarp and Thundercracker? Or insinuating that he knew about her deal with Starscream?

She crouched down to his level, amusement on her face. "Oh? Are you going to protect me? That's awfully dashing of you."

Rumble suddenly looked horrified. "What? No! I ain't gonna-- look, I was just doing what Soundwave told me-- gah!" He made a sound of frustration and ran off.

Crystal couldn't help but have a silly grin on her face when she stood up. But Soundwave was right there, waiting for her with a welder in his hand.

"Repairs required," he warbled at her, nodding to the wound on his shoulder.

As Crystal took the tool from him, she wondered for the first time what Soundwave thought of her. Every thought she had ever had of him was judgmental about the way he was. He was terrifying in his own way and lifeless and strange. But he had also yet to exert any type of violence or force that she had seen.

As Crystal began to attend to the wound, Soundwave sat quietly, as still as any robot could sit. All the while, the wheels in Crystal's head turned. Maybe she was looking at this situation all wrong. Maybe she should start considering new options and maybe, just maybe, she could figure out how to survive this place a while longer.


	7. Retaliation

Author's Notes: Thanks for your continued support everyone, especially during that dry spell I had. We only have one chapter left after this, woo! So keep those reviews coming! They totally fuel me and maybe I can get the last chapter out by next Monday. *crosses fingers*

The Secret Lives of Decepticons

Chapter Seven: Retaliation

Crystal slammed into the wall, suspended several feet in the air. Starscream had her neck in his grip, holding her above his head. She clawed at the hand holding her to no effect. He was several times stronger than she.

"You sold me out to Megatron," Starscream hissed, his voice dripping with hate and poison. "He ransacked my quarters. He broke EVERYTHING!"

Crystal thought Megatron had been right to do what he did. Starscream had ignored the energy crisis with his wanton personal use inside his private quarters. But she wisely kept that opinion to herself.

"Unless you can do something to make up for this, exponentially, our deal is off," Starscream continued.

Crystal struggled against the hold. With everything that was different about her metal body, she was surprised that a normal choke hold still had an affect on her. Starscream must have been pinching it just right to prevent the energy from reaching her head.

"Megatron told Soundwave he's going to start putting soldiers in stasis lock," she managed to rasp out. "To save energy."

That surprised Starscream so much he dropped her. Crystal fell to the floor, her vision flickering.

"I didn't think it would come to this," Starscream said, mostly to himself. "Of course, now Megatron is going to blame me for this entire situation, thanks to you."

Crystal wanted to blame him, too. But her better sense told her it was best not to make him hate her more than he already did. "You weren't the only one using energy, everyone on this base was," she said, trying to be helpful. "Everyone needs to use energy around here to get anything done. It's not like you were stealing massive amounts of energy and hoarding it to--"

Starscream's head snapped around to face her and Crystal's optics widened when she saw his expression. She had hit the nail right on the head. Crystal clamped her hands over her mouth, realizing the horrible secret she had just uncovered.

"Not a word," Starscream spat dangerously, getting right in her face. "You say one word about it to Megatron or anyone and I will kill you where you stand. Do you understand me?"

Hands still over her mouth, Crystal nodded vigorously, wishing like mad she hadn't brought it up in the first place.

Starscream backed up, his processor returning to the new information he had just been given. "So Megatron is going to enforce a mandatory stasis lock..." His optics widened. "He'll try to put me in stasis! Megatron will use any excuse to get me out of the way! We'll see about that!" He took a step with purpose, then paused when he remembered the smaller body on the floor.

"I'm not finished with you," he warned her. "The fact that I had to threaten you to get this information will not go unpunished. I will be back."

With that, Starscream was off and out of sight down the hall.

Crystal rubbed her neck as she watched him go. There was both dread and relief rushing over her. She was relieved that Starscream had forced her to finally make a choice. She had tried to keep both Megatron and Starscream happy, but with Starscream rescinding his deal and threatening "punishment," she had to put her hopes completely on Megatron. It may not be the best bet, but at least she didn't have to worry about choosing any longer.

Unfortunately, she now had a new worry. How would Starscream retaliate? Megatron would not save her from him, even if she asked. That she knew for sure, and the thought irritated her a bit. The whole situation irritated her. Being on Starscream's good side meant she wouldn't get "slagged", as they said, by anyone but Megatron. Being on Megatron's good side meant she might not be slagged by Megatron and hopefully no one else, either. Neither of these were exactly winning situations and Crystal was not happy about her lack of options.

Then, a thought occurred to her. Maybe there was someone she hadn't considered. As Rumble had told her before, Soundwave wanted her to stick with him. He had not tried to harm or threaten her. Not only that, but he had Megatron's ear and enough of Starscream's respect to keep the seeker at a distance.

Crystal almost smiled as the idea came to her. Maybe it was time for her to retaliate, before Starscream had the opportunity.

* * *

She waited for the right time, when Megatron had no need of Soundwave and the blue Decepticon wasn't working on anything in particular. It was the lull before the storm and Crystal could feel it. Soon the mandatory stasis lock would be announced and the base would become a madhouse. There wouldn't be a single Decepticon on the list that would go down without a fight. Due to their social status, Crystal guessed the Stunticons would be going first. She really wasn't sure if she could count on any of them if she were in trouble. Just talking to them once or twice didn't mean they had her back. But she could imagine with them gone, Starscream would feel more confident about making any move he had planned toward her.

Crystal steeled her nerves as she watched Soundwave's back while he worked. This whole political mess of who was planning to do what to whom made her head spin. She might just be making it a lot more complicated than it was. However, if she never tried, she could only blame herself if something happened to her. It was best to take a breath and jump.

"Soundwave."

He didn't acknowledge she had spoken to him until he was finished fiddling with whatever he was doing. Crystal waited politely until he turned to give her his attention. If reading Wheeljack had given her any experience, she would almost guess Soundwave's body language seemed curious. She had never taken the initiative to approach him first.

"Soundwave, if you don't mind me asking, why is Megatron going to put some of the Decepticons in stasis lock instead of looking to alternative sources of energy?"

Soundwave's red optic band flickered, possibly with annoyance at her question, but she wasn't sure.

"Explain," Soundwave finally demanded of her.

"You know, like why doesn't he have some of you just harvest your own natural energy resources instead of stealing it?"

Soundwave was still and quiet for a while, as if trying to wrap his processor around it. "Explain," he said again.

Crystal stared at him for a while. "Seriously? You know, like building your own devices to gather energy resources instead of waiting for us--er, I mean the humans to do it for you?"  
Soundwave still didn't have a response. Crystal thought she saw him twitch a little bit.

She tried using a simpler approach. "You can build machines that harvest natural resources and you can do it right here at the base. That means no fighting, no stealing and no risk of injury to get energy."

Soundwave sat back, his posture thoughtful. "Continue."

"Um.. can I.. show you?" She motioned to his computer console.

Soundwave allowed it, but watched her carefully as she accessed Earth's internet system. "There are so many ways to find natural energy on this planet. The humans harvest it all the time. You can just build the same devices they do. I mean you're in the middle of the ocean, it's like energy central. There's wind energy, hydroelectricity, wave energy, ocean thermal energy, solar energy... not to mention the fossil fuels your base is probably sitting on." Crystal flipped through schematics and diagrams as quickly as she could as she explained. "I mean, you have a whole construction crew at your disposal. Let them have whatever energy you've got left and have them build some of these things. At least you'll be getting some sort of energy supply coming in. Even the Autobots gather 30% of their energy from the volcano they live in, and it powers most of the Ark. Why shouldn't the Decepticons do the same thing?"

Soundwave was still quiet, but Crystal could tell he was processing the information. She thought it really strange that the Decepticons had been on this planet for twenty some-odd years and still hadn't thought of harvesting their own energy. At first Crystal had assumed they were just being lazy or spiteful. They were Decepticons, after all. Decepticons existed to do evil, like stealing energy.

But now, seeing the reaction upon being told they could gather their own energy if they really had to, Crystal wasn't so sure of her previous assumption. What was up with the thinking of Decepticons? The Autobots understood that this planet was vast in resources which could be used without the aid of humans. The Decepticons seemed to think that Earth's energy was some magical substance that only humans could harness.

Then again, as Crystal recalled a bit of her Cybertronian history lessons, Wheeljack had once told her the Autobots were very confused about Earth when they first woke up. The organic life forms ruled the planet and the metallic ones weren't life forms at all. Coming from such a different planet, the Autobots themselves took a while to figure out exactly what could be processed for energy on Earth. It helped that a portion of the crew had scientific backgrounds. It was in their nature to learn what they could about the new world around them.

In the Decepticon base, Crystal couldn't think of a single resident who could be considered part of a science department. While some had a few skills in other areas, they were all soldiers first. And they were soldiers used to taking what they wanted, not creating it themselves.

As Soundwave leaned in more closely to the screen, Crystal could see the light of a new concept growing in him. His great, blocky form surrounded her as he brought his head close to hers, absorbing the data. Crystal dared to steal a glance at him while his face was so close to hers. For a moment she wondered what it would be like to be trapped in that body, without expression, without tone or ability to properly vocalize what was going on within. Was that just the way he was or did he sometimes wish he was in a shell more accommodating than this one?

Soundwave reached around her, pulling up a few schematics himself. Crystal sat patiently, letting him look all he wanted. Her optics wandered to the corner of one of the reports and she saw the date. A strange fear crept over her when read that it was already the middle of June. That was longer than she thought she had been a prisoner here. Almost a month longer.  
Something inside her felt panic and also disappointment. She had been under the Decepticons' subjugation for nearly two months and there had never been even the slightest sign the Autobots had tried to rescue her. That hurt. In a small corner of her mind, she had already been aware of this fact as the days went by and there was nothing, but to get a solid period of time made it hurt so much worse. At least before, she could pretend it hadn't been as long as she thought and that they were still trying to formulate a plan of rescue. Learning that simple date robbed her of these hopeful illusions and left her with nothing.

"Condition," Soundwave said, jolting Crystal out of her self-pity.

She stared at him blankly, right into that thick optic band of his. She was so close she could see herself in it.

"Condition for sharing this information," Soundwave clarified.

It still took Crystal a moment to understand what he was asking. He wanted to know what she wanted in exchange for the information she had given him. It was a funny thing to ask, considering Soundwave already had the bargaining chip. Was he trying to do something for her or just curious what she would have wanted?

Crystal forced herself to concentrate on this for right now. There would be time to think about the new information later. "I want you to take full credit for this."

Soundwave tipped his head curiously at her. "Bribe?"

Crystal shrugged.

Soundwave regarded Crystal a moment longer as she sat in the chair a bit too large for her, hands sandwiched between her knees. Whatever he was thinking at that moment would remain a mystery, but he put his hand on her head like he had done once before. Then he set off to get to work.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Soundwave put together a proper proposal right before Megatron was about to announce the lock-down. It was a welcome alternative to an otherwise disagreeable last resort. The Constructicons were put right to work building a machine for underwater drilling and also an apparatus for wave energy collection.

Starscream's initial reaction towards the plan was jealousy, which was common whenever a great idea came up that wasn't his. Megatron expected the finicky seeker to complain the entire time, but after looking at the schematics and seeing a whole new world of possibilities, Starscream got a glint in his optics Megatron hadn't seen in a while.

It had been a very long time, but Megatron remembered what Starscream had been before he was a Decepticon soldier, before he was even a seeker. Starscream's original background had been in science, far before he ever studied the art of warfare. These days, Starscream tried valiantly to deny all connections he had with such a life. He was a hardened warrior now. He no longer trifled with such things. And yet, every now and then, something would come up that would spark the scientific curiosity that was still buried deep within him and it would force its way out.

The idea of solar energy collection intrigued Starscream the most. Cybertron, while it had two moons, had no sun. All its warmth and light came from the planet itself. The idea of collecting energy from a celestial body he was unfamiliar with was something that kept his attention. Soon, Starscream began to fashion solar panels that would float on the ocean's surface. It wasn't a perfect idea with the high waves brought on by Oregon's ever-changing weather, but it was something that kept him busy.

During all this, Crystal went about her normal duties in silence, a bit slower than she had worked before. Her drive was gone. Her fire to show the Decepticons what she could do had been put out. Not that any of the Decepticons were around to notice. They were all working on Soundwave's new energy gathering project. Not a single one wanted to be left out of the payoff when the energon started coming in.

This left Crystal completely free to work at her own pace, free of harassment from any of them. She probably could have even stopped working altogether without their noticing. But now she needed something to do more than ever. She needed something to keep her mind occupied or she would go crazy.

Two months. It had been almost two months and nothing. Not even the slightest hint that the Autobots were even attempting to save her. The Decepticons were far more concerned with their energy crisis. Crystal hadn't realized she had not even heard a single one of them express any concern about the Autobots possibly coming for her. Crystal forced herself to come to the realization that the Decepticons weren't concerned because the Autobots were never coming.

It hurt to admit this to herself. It hurt a great deal. All this time, she had been trying so hard not to think about them. The longer she remained, the less likely it was she would be rescued. She knew this was the truth of her situation, but it was hard to swallow. Had they not tried at all this entire time to at least find her, or get a message to her or something? It wasn't so much the fact that she had not been saved but the fact that there had been no attempt whatsoever.

What did that mean? Was it normal for the Autobots just to give up after the Decepticons took what they wanted? That didn't seem to make sense at all. What were those Autobots doing?  
That was how she thought about them these days. Just 'The Autobots' as a whole. She kept the entire group in a net within her mind. She couldn't let a single individual out of the crowd. To think of the individuals .-- Prowl, Jazz, Bluestreak, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, any of them -- and picture them not trying to help her made her feel stupid she had expected rescue from them in the first place. Maybe she had misinterpreted her relationship with them the entire time.

It was at that point Crystal realized she had been staring at an open control panel, probably for several minutes, as she allowed herself to spiral downward in her dark cloud of self-pity. She felt stupid again. Feeling bad for herself wasn't going to help her any. It looked like she would have to do what she always did: take care of things herself.

The clicking of claws on metal caught her attention in the silent hallway and she looked over to see Ravage passing by. Unconcerned about the energy gathering, the metal cat always did what suited him. He paused in his meanderings to look at his watcher. The tip of his tail twitched softly.

Crystal crouched down to his level and called out in her most enticing voice. "Ravage, here kitty, kitty."

Ravage growled at her, his optics glowing more brightly as he voiced his dislike for her. Then he disappeared into the darkness of the next hallway.

Crystal straightened again, hands on hips. Same old Ravage. He was one mean feline. She wasn't sure why she kept bothering with him.

Turning back to the task at hand, Crystal closed up the control panel she had recently repaired. The buttons glowed in the dim light as they connected. She pressed the one that opened the doors. Now that the control panel was repaired, she could finally get inside to see the extent of the damage.

What she saw inside came as no surprise: upturned and broken furniture with scorch marks and dents in the wall. It was a common sight these days. When a raiding team returned from a failed attempt at a mission, which was fairly often these days, the disgraced soldiers would usually pick a room and take out all their frustrations there.

As long as they weren't taking their frustrations out on her, Crystal was happy to clean up after them.

Crytal first gathered up whatever was too damaged to fix and threw it down the disposal chute. She had a suspicion the thin tubes led out to spew their garbage into the ocean. It made her feel guilty for polluting, but there wasn't much she could do about it.

Next Crystal swept, righting the remaining furniture as she went. The work was slow. It seemed harder to do today than most days. There was a heaviness in her body now. It weighed down her arms and legs as she worked. That heaviness was filling the space where her hope used to be. As much as she tried to force herself not to think about it, she couldn't get rid of that feeling. She had spent too long pretending her situation wasn't as bad as it really was. Now it was all crashing down around her and all she wanted to do was mope.

Crystal paused and looked at her hands. The fingers twitched all on their own. It was now an almost constant condition. There was hardly a moment where she didn't feel an involuntary tremor somewhere in her body. So far, it wasn't so severe that it interfered with her work. She had been forcing it down, willing her body to comply so she could keep doing what she was doing. It may have slowed her descent, but she was still falling downward. When it got so bad she couldn't work, what would they do with her then?

She rested her forehead on the broom handle, knowing she shouldn't let herself get so down if she was to survive, but she couldn't help it. She had earned this pity party and she was going to wallow in it a bit longer. Usually, when she was feeling down, she would sing. Well, she would sing for several different reasons, including when she was feeling down. It had been a while since she had raised her voice to sing for any occasion. Looking at the open doorway, Crystal wondered if there would even be any Decepticons on this floor to hear her.

Little did she know that aside from Ravage, there was another Decepticon skulking around nearby. Thundercracker had been at the other end of the hall when he noticed Crystal crouched, calling to a growling Ravage. It was such an odd sight to see, it intrigued him somehow. From what he knew of the thing, it was an artificial life form built by the Autobots. And while he hadn't had a lot of interaction with it, the few times he saw it, he couldn't help but notice how alive it acted.

When Ravage left, the little pink bot looked sad and lonely even as it went back to work. That wasn't normal. The maintenance bot was performing the function for which it was designed. It should look right at home. But there were other times Thundercracker had felt emotion from it. Fear, hurt, confusion... that wasn't normal for a mindless automaton and he knew he wasn't the only Decepticon suspicious of what this little bot really was.

When it went into the room to clean, Thundercracker carefully made his way toward the open doorway. He wasn't sure exactly why he felt the need to sneak around his own base, but for some reason he really wanted to observe the little creation when it thought no one else was watching.

However, it was hard to peek around the corner without being noticed. His impressive wingspan would give up his position right away. He had to make sure he only watched when her back was turned, but he had no way of knowing when that was. He could hear sounds of her cleaning up, but he couldn't observe.

While Thundercracker tried to formulate a plan of action, he heard something else. Something very unexpected. A voice. A very feminine voice. It started low from the room and slowly grew in volume as it sang.

_Talkin' to myself and feelin' old  
Sometimes I'd like to quit  
Nothing ever seems to fit  
Hangin' around  
Nothing to do but frown  
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down. _

Thundercracker looked confused when he heard those words come from the room. He knew what singing was. Cybertronians had their traditional songs, as did the native lifeforms on this planet. But these words, there was something in them that really made him listen.

_What I've got they used to call the blues  
Nothin' is really wrong  
Feelin' like I don't belong  
Walkin' around  
Some kind of lonely clown  
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.  
_  
As the voice grew louder, he could hear the emotion in it. Thundercracker hadn't even noticed he had sunk to the floor to listen. Something in these words made his spark ache, as if he had been longing to say them himself.

_Funny but it seems I always wind up here with you  
Nice to know somebody loves me  
Funny but it seems that it's the only thing to do  
__Run and find the one who loves me._

The voice rose higher, freer than before it began as if it was lifted by such a melancholy tune.

_What I feel has come and gone before  
No need to talk it out  
We know what it's all about  
Hangin' around _

_Nothing to do but frown  
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down. _

Crystal sang the very last part loud and strong, just the way Karen Carpenter did. Probably louder than she meant to, but no one came in to yell at her that she was making a ruckus, so she assumed no one heard. The song also worked quite nicely. She didn't feel so melancholy any more and continued humming nonsensically to herself as she worked. Once done with the room, Crystal walked out into the empty hall and closed the door behind her, determined to keep going. There was no evidence that anyone had heard her.

She carried her supplies down the hall and turned the corner only to run into, not one, but three Decepticons. The very three she never ever wanted to be alone with.

"Well hey there," Dirge grinned as Crystal backed away from them. "Look at you, Megatron's busy little bee."

"Is there... something I can help you with?" Crystal asked, hoping there really was.

"Actually there is," said Ramjet, stepping forward. He was the one that hated her the most. "We were sent here to deliver a little message to you. From Starscream."

Oh no.

Crystal's eyes widened at the mention of his name. His retaliation came sooner than she expected. She was hoping to keep him busy while everyone was working on the energy gathering. She had forgotten one of her assumptions, that Starscream often got someone to do his dirty work for him.

Crystal was not usually one to retreat from a fight, but she was facing three much larger Decepticons who had been given specific orders to find her and hurt her. She dropped everything and she ran.

There seemed to be nothing more futile than running from Decepticons in a Decepticon base, but it was all Crystal could think to do. Maybe she could make it to Soundwave's quarters. He probably wasn't in at the moment, but if she could lock herself in there, he might notice. Or maybe she should try to find the Stunticons. Starscream insisted they wouldn't go out of their way to help her, but they also didn't like the jets any. Maybe they would help her just for the excuse to start a fight. Any Decepticon would be better than facing these three alone. At least they wouldn't feel free to do whatever they wanted to her if someone else was watching.

She wasn't able execute any one of her plans. Something heavy rammed into her back and she fell face-first into the floor. Thrust landed next to her stunned body. It was easy just to ignite his thrusters and catch up to her. This little bot wasn't going anywhere.

As Crystal recovered from her face plant, the three jets grouped around her, trapping her against the wall. Dirge reached out to snatch her hand, pulling her to her feet. Crystal instantly kicked at him, yanking free.

"Ooh, it's still got some fight in it," he jeered.

"Yeah, better not leave it alone with Ramjet. It might damage both his legs this time."

He and Thrust got in a good laugh while Ramjet growled. He advanced on Crystal, swinging at her. Purely by reflex, she ducked and then rammed the heel of her hand into his nose.

"Ugh! What was that?" Ramjet barked, grabbing his face. His nose wasn't anywhere as sensitive as a human's but it was still near many important facial cables and circuits.

Crystal backed away from them, knowing she was in real trouble now. Fighting back was only going to get them angrier at her. But either way, they were going to hurt her and she would be damned if she was just going to sit and take it. She did enough of that with Megatron.

The entire group was so concerned with what was going on, none of them noticed they had an extra set of optics watching them. Starscream stood in the shadows, just fine with not being noticed. While he hated to dirty his hands, he was also too paranoid to give anyone his full confidence that they could finish a job without making sure with his own optics. He needed to make sure his message was sent without the trio tearing her up so badly he couldn't use her any more. So far, it seemed to be working. The little maintenance bot looked plenty scared now.

Dirge and Thrust were a bit smarter than Ramjet when it came to attacking her. They advanced simultaneously, from opposite directions. Thrust swung, backing her up into Dirge. He grabbed her by the arms, pinning them to her body. Crystal kicked and struggled. She managed to pull away for a second, but Dirge grabbed her arm again. Then he did something no amount of her training could have prepared her for. It simply was not an attack one human would use on another.

Dirge had a steel grip on her arm. He yanked her toward him, and at the same time, kicked right at her chest cavity, under the arm. Once she realized what he was doing, Crystal was so horrified at the thought, all she could do was watch.

The Decepticon's foot collided with her and he pulled as hard as he could. It was the most sickening, horrifying sensation she had ever felt. Cables and fuel lines snapped as Crystal's arm was ripped right out of the socket. She couldn't help herself, she screamed. She screamed as if death itself were coming for her and her vocal cords began to fritz from the pitch.  
It was such an unexpected, unholy sound, even the three jets backed away from her.

Crystal's body flopped to the floor, her arm still in Dirge's hand. Her chest heaved rapidly in the robot equivalent to a panic attack. She pawed at the gaping wound, looking like the sense had been scared right out of her, wheezing out small, pained sounds. For the Decepticons, it was a very unnatural reaction.

Starscream, however, had seen that exact reaction before. There had been a human who called himself Dr. Kraus who had kept Starscream prisoner for weeks. On Halloween night, Starscream had his revenge. He had ripped out every limb from that pathetic life form until he bled to death. The first to go was that human's left arm and he had reacted exactly as that maintenance bot reacted now. How curious.

Something heavy shouldered past Starscream, shaking him from his wonderings. It was Thundercracker. The blue seeker paused to look Starscream in the face and then shook his head at his commander. For a moment, Starscream managed to find the grace to realize this whole fiasco was a rather tasteless spectacle indeed.

Thundercracker approached the gawking trio and pushed in front of them.

"Alright, you slaggers are done," he announced, taking the arm from Dirge. "You broke it good, now get out of here."

The three collectively looked from him to the shocked body panting on the floor. They had been hoping for more sport than that. But the little, damaged bot was acting so strangely, they didn't know what to do with it any more. And tangling with Thundercracker was not a preferred option either. While not a violent individual himself, Skywarp was, and had a habit of playing nasty tricks with that warp drive of his. Everyone knew if you messed with one, you had to mess with both. So the trio wisely counted their message properly sent and were on their way. Thundercracker noticed Starscream had made himself scarce as well.

Once they were alone, he could turn his attention to the whimpering body on the floor. It was acting weird. Losing a limb was no big deal to his kind. Especially if the entire thing came off at the joint. It could always be reattached. But this little bot was acting like it was beyond repair from the damage. It seemed so out of it from shock, it didn't even respond when Thundercracker walked right up to it.

"Hey," he said calmly. "Here's your arm back."

He dropped it in Crystal's lap and she cried out all over again, trying to get away from the offending limb as if the sight of it sickened her. She flopped around on the floor pathetically, one hand still trying to hold onto the wound as if preventing the rest of her from falling apart with it.

Almost sighing, Thundercracker dropped to one knee to get down to her level. "You're just fine. It's not that bad. Stop whimpering."

That seemed to get Crystal's attention. She shut off her optics, nodding to him and trying to get herself together. "It's okay," she said to herself, trying to calm down. "I'm okay. It's just an arm. I'm going to be okay. I'mokayI'mokayI'mokay."

She seemed fine for a moment until she began to relive that horrible moment all over again and the whimpering threatened to come back. How she just wanted to lay down, give up, and just cry and cry until she couldn't cry any longer.

Thundercracker was not about to let her get to that point. He gathered her up in his arms, her undamaged shoulder pressing into his chest. He easily held her smaller form in one arm while he carried her damaged limb with the other. It was surprising; the little maintenance bot just curled up right against him, her whole body shivering. It was very puzzling behavior indeed.

He carried her as he carried out every task presented to him: quietly and dutifully. Though the way this little bot acted, Thundercracker had a hard time ignoring it. He kept glancing down at the small body trembling in his arms. It appeared to almost be in some sort of shock, just staring blankly out into nothing with a haunted look frozen on its face. There was something so very wrong with how it was acting. It wasn't how a normal Cybertronian behaved. More importantly, it was definitely not how an artificially-made robotic life form behaved. This thing, Thundercracker had to admit, was clearly neither. It was something else entirely.

They arrived at Soundwave's quarters and he wasn't around, as Thundercracker expected. Soundwave had much more important things to attend to elsewhere with the energy gathering plan now in motion. Laserbeak was perched up near the ceiling in the workshop, but he did not object to Thundercracker's presence. None of Soundwave's tapes had any beef with the seeker. Few Decepticons ever did. It was one of the advantages to staying quiet and keeping your head down.

He put the arm down before gently setting the little bot's body beside it. It (she? Thundercracker wasn't sure anymore) wobbled as he set her down, but she managed to sit up on her own. She was still shaking, her hand shaking most of all, clinging to her damaged side as if it was all that was keeping her functioning.

That was the extent of what Thundercracker could do for her. He stood there stupidly for a moment, wondering why he felt the need to do more. He certainly wasn't going to sit around and wait with it, or her, until Soundwave could come back to repair her. He had things to do.

"I'll leave you here..." he ventured to say in the silence. "You should be fine until Soundwave gets back." The second it was out of his mouth, Thundercracker wondered why he felt the need to say that.

He turned and walked out, utterly confused by the whole experience.

The second he was gone, Crystal's instincts kicked in and she scrambled off the table and practically slammed her body into the smallest corner she could find and huddled there on the floor. Everything felt like it was falling apart. She needed to feel safe. She badly missed her small closet at the Ark with its low ceiling and close walls. She wanted four walls around her right now so she could feel like nothing could get in. This had quickly turned to worse than she could imagine.

Crystal hugged the wall, her side throbbing with the mechanical pain of severed joints and cables. She wanted out. She wanted out of there now. She wasn't sure how much of this she could take any more.

Where were those Autobots? Why didn't they ever come for her? Why couldn't they get her out of this horrible place? She didn't even care any more if they hadn't tried to rescue her, she just wanted to go back there. She wanted Sunstreaker with his strong arms and steady spark beat. The way he had held her tightly that time Prowl had freaked out in the med bay. He made her feel safe even when it seemed like everything had gone wrong. She wished he were there to make it feel okay now. And she wondered why he hadn't come for her.

She wished for Jazz, his confident smile and that darkness and ferocity he hid until those he cared for were in danger. He made her feel happy and cared for. He made her feel pretty even though she wasn't. She loved him dearly and she wondered why he wasn't coming for her.

Her thoughts turned to Prowl, his steady voice, his beautiful optics, his proud stature. He told her if she needed anything, he would make it happen. He told her he would always be around. How could he not be trying to find her?

She thought of him and she cried, as well as her robotic body would accommodate. Without tears, she was robbed the satisfaction of a genuine sob, but she sobbed nonetheless. She sobbed in her corner, curled up as tightly as she could, until she could not force it out of her damaged body any more. Inside, she gave up. No one was ever coming for her.

* * *

Much later, when Soundwave came back to his quarters, he paused immediately when he saw the dismembered arm on his table. Thundercracker had not bothered to fill him in on the incident at all; he was busy elsewhere. Immediately, Soundwave turned to Laserbeak. A small light on top of the little cassette blipped for a few moments and then Soundwave had, somewhat, the information he needed.

He walked over to where Crystal had fallen asleep with her cheek resting on her knees and her good arm still hugging her body.

The first thing Soundwave did was scan her. Not only to assess the damage, but also to get energy readings while she was sleeping. He still had no idea what it was she was actually doing or how it benefited her body in any way. Once those data were gathered, he knelt down to her level and raised her head up to meet his gaze.

Crystal fluttered back into the waking world as she was touched and instantly pulled her chin out of Soundwave's grip. She looked around, trying to remember why she was on the floor with a Decepticon towering over her. It came back all too quickly and she scuttled away from Soundwave, optics wide. He wasn't the cause of her damage, but she felt far too vulnerable around any of them now. She never wanted to see another Decepticon again.

Soundwave stood, regarding her state with little reaction. "Cause of damage: Megatron?"

Crystal tried not to look at the emptiness where her arm used to be, but it was hard not to stare at her own grisly wounds.

"Uh, no. It wasn't him."

_You're fine, you're fine, you're fine_, she kept repeating to herself internally. Robots could survive with missing limbs. It wasn't a big deal. One could always be put back in. She would be okay.

But it was such a strange sensation. Crystal had heard that some amputees could still feel their limbs when they were removed. She couldn't feel a thing other than the pain from the torn hardware. It was as if the limb no longer had a function, as far as the body was concerned.

"Report for repair," Soundwave ordered, motioning to the table.

A bit awkwardly, Crystal managed to use the wall and her remaining hand to get to her feet. She trudged over to the table, looking defeated, and, just as awkwardly, heaved herself up onto the table top. There she hunched, indifferent, hand rubbing absently at her shoulder.

"Source of damage," Soundwave queried.

"Does it matter?" Crystal countered, looking at her knees.

"Damage of personal property, not acceptable," Soundwave responded.

Crystal opened her mouth like she was going to say something. Then, instead, she just rolled over onto her good side and lay there, waiting for repairs, whether they came or not. She didn't care any more. She was done.

* * *

Starscream fiddled and tinkered in one of the lower levels of the Nemesis. Unlike Soundwave, he didn't keep his workshop and all his tools in his quarters. His scientific background was something he denied on a regular basis. His lab he kept encoded with a triple lock and it was only used when he was forced to result to his own two hands for his schemes.

Today was slightly different. The tattered remains of his once magnificent quarters only enraged Starscream every time he saw them. He could still picture Megatron's usual mindless tirade as he squawked and threw his fists about on all Starscream's equipment, accusing him of treachery, stupidity, recklessness, and anything else he could think of. It was quite a display and it certainly left a mess.

But Starscream was flexible, if nothing else. He knew how to bounce back and relocate. Though in hindsight, it would have been wiser to get the maintenance bot to clean and fix his quarters before he let that trio of morons damage it. Oh well. While he certainly enjoyed the nicer things in life, he could also go without if he had to.  
Besides, if things worked out the way he planned, he might not be on the Nemesis much longer.

After tinkering with some solar panels for a while, his thoughts turned back to his long-term project. It was almost coming to fruition. Due to Megatron's greed, he now had an Autobot space shuttle at his disposal. And due to his leader's lack of attention to detail, he had been hoarding away energon for quite some time. If Soundwave's proposal (though Starscream was curious as to where he came up with it in the first place) was a success, then there would be an ample amount of energy to power his endeavor very soon.  
Soon. Starscream almost shivered in anticipation from the thought. He had been planning this escape for a while.

Then he could kiss this squalid life goodbye. He could leave Megatron and the rest of these fools behind. There would be no more taking orders. There would be no more botched missions serving Megatron's aimless goals. There would just be Starscream, finally finding what had been eluding him, and then returning to Cybertron in victory. He would leave Megatron here on this mudball planet to continue to play with Prime and his Autobots.

Starscream was done with Earth. He knew bigger things were coming and he wasn't going to be caught unprepared, helpless under Megatron's thumb.

Bigger, indeed.

He glanced over at his equipment, the special devices he didn't keep in his own quarters. On a certain screen, a small blip pulsated quietly, a silent, constant reminder. No one else knew it was there, only Starscream. Far beyond Earth, beyond Cybertron, it skulked in the darkness of space.

And Starscream was coming for it.


	8. Celebration

The Secret Lives of Decepticons

Chapter 8: Celebration

Sunstreaker watched the second-in-command from a distance. Jazz was currently biding his time out on the shooting range the Autobots had set up behind the volcano. It wasn't unusual to find the second out there, or any other place where Autobots gathered. Jazz was always where everyone else was. The mech was happiest when surrounded by others, laughing and chatting it up with them. It was, however, unusual to see Jazz out there by himself.

But the normally social Autobot had turned quite solitary as of late. At first, he had only stuck around Prowl or Optimus Prime. Gradually, he had stopped spending time in their company as well.

Everyone dealt with loss in his own way. Pulling away from social interaction was how Jazz dealt with his. Even two months later, it wasn't getting any easier like it should have. There wasn't a single Autobot on the Ark who didn't know what it was like to mourn the passing of a friend or loved one. But in those cases, there was always proof that the spark had rejoined Primus and the Matrix, and a body to pay respects to before offering it to the depths of space as per tradition.

In this situation, they had neither. It was the lack of closure that hurt the most. No one knew whether to let go or to keep hoping. The fact that everyone on the Ark had his own opinions on the matter wasn't helping. Some felt strongly that it was time to move on, while others just as strongly insisted that they should attack the Decepticons again. The three highest officers were caught in the middle, unable to officially voice their own opinions, lest more conflict be unleashed.

Strangely enough, it was Prowl who had been the most vocal, at least as vocal as one like him could be. Everyone knew where he stood on the issue with his constant planning to try and get a step ahead of the Decepticons. Optimus Prime had adamantly stayed out of the debate. Anything Optimus had to say would be taken as truth, despite the fact that he didn't know any better than anyone else on the matter.

Jazz had been a silent supporter of Prowl's plans as he carried them out, but had yet to voice any personal opinions about anything. Sunstreaker had almost considered him a rival once. Now, watching his commander standing there, all alone, Sunstreaker wasn't sure whether he should respect Jazz or sympathize with him.

After a few minutes of watching, Sunstreaker decided to join Jazz at the firing range. He avoided the lame, predictable question of "Do you mind if I join you?" and just pulled out his own energy rifle. Jazz made no indication his presence was noticed. The two practiced in silence for several minutes. Sunstreaker noticed Jazz was developing deadly aim. He had been out practicing quite a bit lately.

Finally, after several shots, Sunstreaker put down his weapon and looked over at his commander. "How are you doing?" he asked in a flat voice. It really wasn't a sentence he was used to saying.

Jazz popped out the dead power pack from his weapon and clipped in a fresh one without even looking down to make sure it was in properly.

"Not bad. Same old," Jazz responded neutrally. He didn't reciprocate the question as he began firing on the targets again.

Sunstreaker stood there, watching him for a while, a vision of disappointment. Not that Jazz was exactly his idol, but there were certain things he expected from him. This behavior was unexpected.

"Have you just given up?" he suddenly blurted out.

Jazz's finger paused on the trigger. Then he slowly lowered his weapon and turned to face the yellow Autobot. Sunstreaker inwardly flinched when he got the full view of the jagged gash still running across Jazz's chest. The word on the base was that he had grappled with Motormaster during their assault on the Decepticon base. If that was true, tangling with a Decepticon that size, Jazz was lucky he came away with only that.

Still, the fact that Jazz continued to sport his new battle scar instead of getting it repaired offended every sensibility Sunstreaker had. He could see a small sliver of exposed engine where the wound was the deepest. Soon, debris was going to get in there and irritate the area, if it hadn't already.

"Given up?" Jazz repeated.

"Yeah," Sunstreaker insisted. "The only one who does any pushing or planning around here is Prowl. And you know how much I hate to be on Prowl's side. But he's the one that's fighting for Crys and you're not. _Why_ not?"

A hand reflexively went up to scratch at the wound on Jazz's chest. "I haven't stopped hoping just yet," Jazz told him. "But just be careful putting your chips in with Prowl. He doesn't know when to let things go. I'm behind him for this plan. But if it fails, I'm done. I miss her, Sun, but I don't spend my time chasing ghosts like he and Smokescreen do."

"I see. But you wouldn't be opposed to helping the Dinobots and I rip that base right up from the ocean floor, would you?"

Jazz smirked and held out his hand. "You can count on me. I've got some special explosives put together just for them."

Sunstreaker grinned as he took his commander's hand. "That's all I could ask for."

* * *

The construction went on for three days. Several sections of the Nemesis were shut down completely to conserve and redirect the remaining energy toward their last ditch effort to save them all. The oil drill had top priority and was completed first. Mixmaster had researched and was now knowledgeable in the process to refine the oil in its crude state into energon.  
Fossil fuels weren't their ingredients of choice when it came to an energy source. They had an unfamiliar taste. Electricity-derived energon was more palatable and familiar. But the Decepticons were taking what they could get, especially since Scavenger had located a heavy depository not far from the base. If the conversion process worked, the energon would be plentiful and that was the top priority for now. There would be time to fine-tune and venture into other avenues when the immediate emergency had been dealt with.

When the first glowing, pink cube was produced, every Decepticon was present and silent as its contents were tested again and again. Finally, Mixmaster and Soundwave gave the okay for the next test. Megatron allowed the Insecticons to try it first. Granted, their fuel tanks were far more durable than the average Decepticon's, but the results would be dependable.

All three of them were hooked up to monitoring systems as each was allowed to munch on a cube. After a while, both Soundwave and Mixmaster gave the green light. The energon was safe to consume and the project had been a success. There was much cheering throughout the masses and soon everyone was put to work harvesting the energy for their storage rooms.  
Megatron sat back and observed, a pleased look on his face. It had been a while since he had seen his full army attack any task with such enthusiasm. Those Autobots weren't going to know what hit them when they finally resurfaced at full power. Things were looking up indeed.

Next to Megatron stood Soundwave, going through numbers on a data pad, as emotionally detached as a calculator. Megatron watched him curiously for a while before speaking. "This plan was quite a brilliant one, Soundwave. I commend you for taking the initiative and researching ways of solving our problem."

Soundwave gave a slight nod to acknowledge the compliment before turning his attention back to his numbers. "Decepticon soldiers will run at full power within 24 Earth hours. Nemesis full power expectancy: three solar cycles."

"I see," was all Megatron said in reply and continued to think silently to himself.

* * *

Every other place on the Nemesis was dead silent and dark. Crystal trudged through it, level after level, hallway after hallway, without bothering to turn on the lights. She preferred it that way. Darkness without for the darkness within. Her newly repaired shoulder still ached with a phantom pain from her injury. She was starting to develop a habit of rubbing it every now and then.

There wasn't much to do around the base any more. With the energy gathering now in full swing, all Decepticons were helping up there instead of breaking things and making a mess on all the other areas. It left Crystal to use her imagination to find something to do.

As down as she was, it was a bit depressing to realize that no matter what Crystal did on the base, no one noticed any more. She wasn't under lock and key, but without bars or a jailer, she was still a prisoner. There was no escape and there wasn't a single one of them who would care if she suddenly went off into a dark corner to rust until the end of time. Not even Megatron worried about giving her tasks any more, with so many other things on his mind. She felt almost like a ghost sometimes, something that wandered aimlessly, lifelessly, and no one else cared to see.

And yet, Crystal still pushed herself forward, if for no other reason than just to have something to do. If she wasn't useful, then what would she be in this horrible place? While she had given up on rescue, to stop working would be giving up on herself and she just couldn't do that yet.

Crystal's meanderings led her back to the repair bay, just as dark and empty as most other places. She flipped on the light. It didn't look too bad, but there were still a few things strewn about from the damage acquired in their last energy raid. Possibly their last raid ever. Who could tell? Maybe they would never steal again, or maybe they enjoyed it so much they would be out doing it as soon as they could.

Crystal didn't care any more. The whole object of the plan was to get Soundwave in her corner before Starscream had a chance to retaliate. But the seeker had been too quick for her to see her scheme through. She really sucked at this plotting and sneaking around. Backstabbing was hard.

In a corner, there was still a pile of damaged parts, mostly taken out of Skywarp's body. He definitely had quite an interesting wound, Crystal recalled. More damage inside than out. She almost wanted to ask how he got it, but she knew better.

Out of the pile, Crystal reached down and picked up the remnants of the damaged cockpit. The first pane of glass was shattered and the frame bent out of shape. The other two were still intact. She looked at her distorted reflection in the yellow glass.

_'What are you doing?'_ Crystal mentally asked herself. _'If you keep going like this, where exactly is it going to end?'_

That was all that was left for Crystal on the Nemesis, how it would end. All that she had gone through, and this was the end of her road, this dark fortress under the sea. It was so wrong. It irritated her to be reduced to this. It made her angry.

Crystal threw the cockpit pit to the floor and the shattering glass made a very satisfying sound. She picked up another part and did the same thing. Broken pieces littered the floor as it hit the ground. She returned to the pile, grabbing more parts and slamming them to the floor or against the wall. It wasn't fair. These beings with parts that could fall apart so easily, that could shatter and crumble, they were in charge of her life and they could end it at any time.

Crystal tossed everything that was light enough to throw, not caring if she made a mess. She was the one who would have to clean it anyway. It would be days before the Decepticons even noticed if she decided to leave it here like that. Almost blindly, she grabbed at whatever she could, letting the sounds of shattering exorcise her demons.

Her hand found a hollow cylinder and Crystal flung it clear across the room. The sound it made when it hit the wall reverberated throughout the entire room. It was enough to cause her to pause before hurling the next object she had in her hand.

Crystal walked over and picked up the long, thin cylinder again. Then she tapped it on a metal table. It made an interesting noise. An idea popped into her head and she gazed at all the scraps strewn about. With the Decepticons unconcerned about her activities, she was free to play around, at least a little bit. Grabbing a stool and collecting a few odds and ends and a long roll of thin, flexible wire to use as string, she got to work.

After several minutes of drilling holes and tying everything together, Crystal felt a tug on the wire that was trailing off the table. She looked down to see if it was caught on anything and there, like he always was when she thought she was alone, was Ravage. This time, his optics were glued to the twitching wire as she worked. He shot out a paw to grab it again.

If this had happened a few days before, Crystal might have felt lucky Ravage was in a playful mood around her. As it stood now, she was sick of seeing all Decepticons, no matter what they looked like.

"Go away," Crystal said neutrally as she waved her foot at him.

Ravage ducked and backed off a little, but didn't leave the room.

Crystal figured, due to her previous encounters with him, that he would eventually leave. So she went back to work. A few moments later, there was another tug on her wire. This one was hard enough that it pulled several objects to the floor. This irritated her more than usual.

"Beat it, you dumb cat!" she barked as she jumped off her stool.

Ravage hopped in surprise at the sudden attack and skittered out of the room like any high-strung cat would. Now it was Crystal's turn to growl after him.

"Stupid animal. When I want him to come, he won't and when I don't want him around, he won't leave."

Crystal continued to mumble to herself about cats and Decepticons in general until her project was finished. Once done, she held up her masterpiece to inspect it. The cylinder was suspended from a triangular piece of metal with several bits of scrap pieces and glass surrounding it. Crystal shook it gently and it made a bit of an off-key, but still beautiful-sounding wind chime. So funny that it was made from parts of Decepticons.

Suddenly wanting a place to hang it, Crystal set out of the med bay and began to wander the halls. The rec room seemed like a good place for it. She was curious to see how long it would last before the Decepticons broke it, or if they would even notice it at all. At least it would give her something different to think about and she badly needed that before she fell into a permanent pool of self-pity.

Upon reaching the rec room, however, she was not prepared for the sight that greeted her.

Crystal hadn't expected to see any Decepticons in there at all. She assumed they were still working. Instead, practically all of them had filled up every table in every corner and were happily laughing and talking and drinking their fill of energon. All of them were obviously over-energized, and thus, in a good mood. Not a single one noticed Crystal standing in the doorway.  
So Crystal entered, skirting around the room and making her way to the back where she figured her little craft would at least survive the party. She found a chair in the back no one was using and stood on it so she could reach the ceiling and fastened the wind chime up there. Once it was secured, she flicked it for good measure. The tinkling sound it made was lost in the bedlam of the room.

Returning the chair to where she found it, Crystal had started out the way she came when one of the Decepticons grabbed her and she was suddenly sitting in someone's lap. The red optic band and yellow paint gave away her attacker as Drag Strip.

"Where do you think you're going, little lady?" he asked jovially as he bounced her on his knees. "You should join us! This is a celebration! Ol' Choo-Choo Face over here is teaching us drinking songs!"

Astrotrain just laughed at the nickname. He was too over-energized to care. All of them were. Several around the table were hardly able to sit up straight, yet they managed to keep most of their energon in their hands. Some was splashed on the table.

"Alright, one more time, boys!" Astrotrain announced, then he, Drag Strip, Wildrider, Blitzwing and Breakdown broke into song.

It was loud, it was out of tune, and it was in Cybertronian so Crystal couldn't understand a word of it. But Drag Strip clutched her close as he swayed and sang and splashed a tiny bit of energon on her.

Crystal just sat there stupidly in his lap, optics wide, wondering what she should do.

When the song was finished, they all raised their cubes high and drank deeply again. Drag Strip wiped his mouth and then turned to Crystal. He repeated a line to her from the song they just sang.

"You know what that means, doll?" he asked, his voice a little slower than normal.

Crystal shook her head at him. "I don't know much Cybertronian."

"It means 'A good femme is worth a thousand drinks. Without her, I'll drink a thousand more.'"

"So must we all, thanks to Megatron," slurred Blitzwing, catching himself before he fell out of his chair. "A femmeless army is a strong one, but certainly a colorless one."

"Colors don't win no victory!" Breakdown insisted. "Maybe ol' Megs just loves his drink. A thousand drinks for all!"

"A thousand drinks!" they all chorused together, sloshing their cubes against one another's and spilling more on the table.

"Did Megatron not let any femmes into the Decepticon army?" Crystal spoke without really thinking. It was a topic she had been curious about since her short conversation with Soundwave. Why were there female Autobots but not female Decepticons?

The Stunticons at the table got a little quieter. They were too young to know anything about it.

"There were female Decepticons at one time," Astrotrain said. "But Megatron had us kill them all." He made the universal motion of murder with the finger across the throat.  
Crystal's hand instantly went to her own neck. "Why would he do such a horrible thing? They were a part of his army. They were on his side."

"Megatron called them distractions," Blitzwing said, looking close to dropping his head in his cube.

"And backstabbers," Astrotrain added. "Though it gave us an excuse to lay it heavy on the Auto-Femmes as well. Just in case."

The two chuckled at the memory. Crystal couldn't help but be sickened to hear about a mass annihilation of an entire gender. A gender of their own kind. It didn't make sense at all.  
"To Megatron," Breakdown announced, raising his cube again. "For being such a miserable slag-sucker."

"Glitching scrap head," Wildrider added, raising his own drink.

"Pain in the aft," Drag Strip agreed, joining them.

"Rat bastard," Crystal blurted out.

"RAT BASTARD!" the three Stunticons cheered as they clanked cubes and then each took long drinks.

Blitzwing and Astrotrain stayed out of it. Even as drunk as they were, they knew better than to openly badmouth Megatron. They didn't have a whole combining team to back them up.  
Wildrider finished first and wiped a trickle of energon from the side of his mouth before turning to Crystal. "What's a rat bastard?"

Crystal opened her mouth to answer him and Drag Strip, on whose lap she still sat, grabbed her chin and turned her head around to face him.

"So how about it, Doll?" he grinned, his face right in hers. "Think you're worth a thousand drinks?"

She raised a single optic ridge at him, her voice flat. "What?"

"Come on babe, what say you keep me warm in my berth tonight?"

Crystal could hardly believe it when the Stunticon leaned over and tried to kiss her. Both of her hands went on his face as she pushed him away and scrambled out of his lap. Drag Strip fell on the floor when he tried to follow her. His teammates laughed at him.

"Drag Strip, you silly fragger. You're always so handsy when you're over-energized," Breakdown tittered.

"So am I," Wildrider announced, and promptly started to feel himself up.

Breakdown laughed harder.

Crystal turned to flee from all of them and almost ran right into the much bigger form of Thundercracker. She balked and stumbled a bit herself so they wouldn't collide. He looked down at her with purpose in his face and Crystal prayed he didn't have a similar proposition for her.

"Megatron wishes to see you," Thundercracker reported in an even tone.

Ugh. She would rather stay with the handsy Stunticons.

The blue seeker turned without a word and expected Crystal to follow. Part of her wanted to just step out of the rec room and run down the opposite way, but what would that solve in the long run? Especially when she was dissing Megatron himself. Perhaps he had consumed a bit too much energon as well. Over-energizing usually made the systems warm and a bit slower, leaving the body in a pleasant, relaxed mood. Very seldom were Cybertronians angry drunks. She learned this from the Autobot's Christmas party.

Hopefully, Megatron wasn't the one that was an exception to the rule. Though she really couldn't imagine what Megatron wanted from her at this time, drunk or sober. Unless he thought she could take her turn drilling for oil on the ocean floor. Why not? She had done everything else there was to do at the base.

As she fell in step next to Thundercracker, Crystal noticed he kept stealing glances at her. She could also tell he was a little tipsy as well. Not as much as any of the Decepticons in the rec room, but the light in his optics kept meandering from bright to dim, a sure sign of drinking more than needed.

"What?" she demanded when Thundercracker glanced at her again.

Finally, the seeker skipped the pretense and openly gawked at her. "What _are _you, exactly? I just can't figure it out."

"What do you mean, what am I?" Crystal repeated.

"There's no way the Autobots built you. There's something wrong about you."

Crystal narrowed her optics in annoyance, shoulders slumped. "Thanks."

"I'm quite sure you know what I mean."

"Even if I do, what does it matter? You don't even believe I'm female."

"The Stunticons obviously do."

Crystal glared at his silly smirk. Yes, Thundercracker was definitely a little drunk. "Yeah, but no one believes the Stunticons. And, judging from Megatron's past, it might be good to keep it that way." She paused and then looked irritatedly at the seeker. "I don't know why I'm even telling you this."

Thundercracker shrugged. He didn't know either. And his processor was buzzing so pleasantly he hardly had it in him to push the subject.

"So, how is your friend?" Crystal then asked, changing the subject. The less they talked about her, the better.

"He's fine, all put together now. Though currently passed out in his quarters. But it was kind of nice to see his more pleasant side before his warp drive was repaired. Uh-- that was-- after his rude awakening, he was pleasant for a while, of course."

Crystal never took offense to the attack in the med bay. She had survived too many by now to keep holding that many grudges and that one seemed to be driven almost by fear alone. It was the other comment that made her curious.

"His warp drive changes his personality?"

Another shrug from the seeker. "It seems to wind him a little tighter. It makes him more irritable, more aggressive. But, of course, that's what Megatron wants in his soldiers. And he would terminate Skywarp if he ever decided to have it removed. It's too valuable a weapon." He paused and then looked down at her. "And I don't know why I'm telling_ you_ this."

They arrived at their destination, a room Crystal had never entered before. Thundercracker pressed a large button on the side and two massive doors slid away from each other. They were almost as big as the double doors to the room the Stunticons shared. One glance inside and Crystal instantly knew where she was.

Megatron's private quarters.

Before stepping in, Crystal took one last look at Thundercracker. She had a hard time figuring him out. He had helped her a few days ago without kindness and was now throwing her to the wolves without any hint of regret. He was as emotionless and as blank as Soundwave, but Crystal just couldn't put the two of them in the same category.

She just couldn't put her finger on what it was, but there was something sympathetic, maybe even tragic about the way Thundercracker carried out his duties. As if he would do it all differently if he were given a choice, even if the regret were not allowed to show on his face. Or maybe she was getting so desperate, she was just trying to find someone to identify with and Thundercracker's blankness was as good as anything.

But either way, he was leaving her on Megatron's doorstep. Even if all her limbs were torn off this time, he would not be back for her.

Crystal faced the gloom of the shadowed room and stepped inside. The doors shut neatly behind her. The room felt like a command center and personal quarters had collided into one. The room was large and wide with a few personal mementos and furniture here and there. A large command chair was stationed in the middle before a long, blank screen, similar to what Starscream had in his room. The lights were dim, as if the resident was still concerned with conserving energy. Or he just liked the darkness.

The chair had its back facing toward her, but there was obviously a heavy body sitting in it.

"Approach," came Megatron's gravelly voice.

Crystal steeled herself and came forward, stopping subserviently next to the chair. She glanced at Megatron's slouching form, wondering if she should ask what she could do for him. Sometimes even little questions set him off. It was hard to predict what was safe around the massive Decepticon.

She noticed in his hand a nearly empty energon cube. The flickering in his optics and the few empty cubes on the floor confirmed he had consumed more than his fill.

When Megatron didn't speak right away, Crystal decided to press her luck, hoping the energon would put him in a more easygoing mood.

"You drink alone... sir?"

He didn't look at her. "I am the commander of the entire Decepticon army. I must conduct myself in a manner befitting my status."

Crystal didn't think it was fair for him to punish himself. It was amusing to think what Megatron would be like in that rowdy rec room, drunk and singing with his underlings.

"Optimus Prime drinks with his soldiers," she offered.

Megatron crushed the cube in his hand. The remnants of energon splashed to the floor.

"Do not speak to me of Prime. You know nothing," he growled.

Crystal decided to keep quiet after that. It appeared Megatron could be in a foul mood no matter his consumption. So she waited patiently for him to let her know what he wanted from her.  
Megatron seemed to be doing it on purpose. He sat just as silent and still as she stood next to him. Neither spoke or moved, as if each waited for the other to do so first. Finally, Megatron swiveled his chair to look at her. Crystal lowered her head a bit, uncomfortable under his gaze. For a few minutes longer, he just looked at her, not moving, not saying anything.

"You have seen the results of our labor," he stated suddenly.

Crystal shook herself. "If you mean the party that's going on down there, yes. I've had a front row seat to it."

"They have earned their celebration. Soundwave's plan was a brilliant one."

"I'm sure it was."

"There is only one problem with it," Megatron leaned to closer to her. "Soundwave does not have the imagination for such a thing."

Crystal's face stayed neutral, but Megatron wasn't buying it. He gestured with a finger for her to lean down closer to him. When she did, he grabbed her chin, forcing her optics right into his. His face grew close to hers as if he were trying to see into her very thoughts.

"Do you have any idea what you have done?" he murmured.

Crystal looked at him blankly. The little bot had no clue of the Autobot's plot to starve them out. She didn't know how close she had come to being released to them--in pieces. She had lost her freedom and saved herself at the same time. She had also given the Decepticons the means to continue their war with the Autobots. Without having to constantly scavenge for energy, Megatron's full attention could be turned toward defeating Optimus Prime. All thanks to this little creation. She had no understanding of what she had done at all.

"You are such a simple thing, aren't you?" he then asked, releasing her face. "You don't really understand anything of what's going on around you, do you? And yet, you and I are quite a bit alike."

Crystal didn't say anything, but it was obvious she could not fathom what characteristics the two had in common.

Megatron took her hands in his and turned them over, palms up. The black paint on her hands was completely worn away. Even the metal underneath was showing wear and tear. Soon, the joints underneath would begin to be exposed. Her fingers twitched a little bit in his grip. Crystal willed them still.

"We both attack every obstacle to the best of our ability and we never know when to give in. Megatron does not know the meaning of surrender, and neither do you, little one. And you are against great odds here; you must understand that."

Crystal pulled her hands back, a bit annoyed that he talked to her like he knew her. "Was there something I could do for you?"

Megatron reached back and pulled some small items out of a hip compartment and placed them on the large arm rest between them.

Crystal recognized them instantly. "My cards." She had completely forgotten she had them on her when she was kidnapped.

"What sort of purpose do these serve for a maintenance bot?" Megatron asked.

"It's just a fortune telling game I do."

Megatron smirked. "You. Can tell my future? You have no such powers."

"I said it's a _game._ It's just something fun you do at parties. It's not real."

Megatron shifted thoughtfully. "Well, we are in celebration right now..."

Crystal's shoulders sagged. "Really?" she asked in a flat voice.

"Show me," Megatron nodded.

"Fine, shuffle the cards for me."

Megatron did so and placed them back down.

"Now what do you want to know? she asked.

"What is in my future?" was his simple response.

Such a broad question, Crystal wasn't sure what type of answer she could get for him. But she picked up the cards and fanned them out before him.

"Pick one."

Megatron did so, pulling one randomly out of the middle and handing it to her. It was obvious from his face that he expected to be entertained by whatever her findings were.

Crystal was a bit surprised when she looked at it. "You know, this is actually the same card Optimus Prime drew."

"Really, now.." Megatron was starting to look more intrigued through his drunken haze. "What does that mean?"

"It means peace. Peace is in your future."

Megatron looked a bit surprised at that answer himself. He sat back in his massive chair, rubbing his chin in thought.

"An encouraging sign, indeed," he murmured. "Interesting."

Crystal eyed him dubiously. "You want peace." She stated in a voice that clearly said she didn't believe him.

"Of course, that was always been the Decepticon goal," Megatron insisted. "One single faction for Cybertron, united under my rule. No more petty squabbling over power and territory. We will be of one power and that power is me."

"But... but that's not peace! It--it's.. tyranny!" Crystal objected.

"Peace _through_ tyranny, then. If that's what it takes," Megatron argued. "Cybertron needs to be united--it needs to be strong. It has been divided and broken for far too long."

Crystal looked at him in confusion. "Then what are you doing on Earth?"

Megatron opened his mouth to deliver an automatic response, then closed it again when he realized he didn't have an answer. A frown began to pull at his mouth as his expression grew troubled.

"Enough of this, tidy up this room," Megatron ordered and the conversation was done.

Crystal tried not to huff as she was dismissed. How great would that be, to end any conversation you might be losing with the wave of a hand? Though she wasn't sure what to do in the room. The place was immaculate, save a little dust. Only his chair looked well-worn. The rest seemed hardly touched. But she tidied up the best she could, making sure to leave no corner untouched under Megatron's watchful eye. The last thing she wanted was to miss something obvious in his own quarters.

Once she had done everything else she could think to do, Crystal approached the massive chair in the middle and cleaned up all the empty cubes on the floor. When she went back to wipe up the energon, Crystal noticed Megatron wasn't moving and his optics were completely off. He was sitting, slumped in his chair, cheek resting heavily on his fist.

He had passed out from too much drinking. Leaning against the chair was the massive arm cannon he had removed before she came in.

Crystal looked around and then at the ceiling as if asking what powers that be why they left her in such a situation. The greatest warlord in Cybertronian history, passed out drunk with his weapon at his side. This metal body, this heartless, mechanical warrior had killed so many, and not just in the heat of battle. He destroyed whatever did not bend to him. If anyone on this ship deserved oblivion, it was him.

Before she realized it, Crystal had picked up the fusion cannon. It was heavy, but not so heavy she couldn't aim it and fire at point blank range. What would happen if she killed Megatron right here and now? She had a perfect shot at his spark. She didn't even need to touch him to feel it pulsating heavily beneath the chest armor.

With Megatron dead, what would the other Decepticons do to her? Would Starscream kill her or commend her for what she was about to do? Did she even care?

Her arms began to shake as she fingered the power button. Megatron didn't stir. Crystal willed her finger to push it. She willed with all her might. Nothing happened. After a while, she lowered the fusion cannon with a sigh. Monster, robot, evil, whatever he was, she couldn't bring herself to attempt to take a life.

In failure, Crystal set the fusion cannon gently and safely against the wall. She finished cleaning and then she left. When the doors closed behind her, the chair swiveled to face her exit and there sat Megatron, crimson optics aglow and wide awake.

* * *

Crystal avoided the celebrating Decepticons as they continued to drink themselves into an over-energized stupor. She needed time to think, time to think about what she almost did and what she couldn't do. What was she turning into in this place? How was she supposed to keep going like this?

Turning a corner, she almost ran into the prone figures of Rumble and Frenzy, haphazardly passed out and sprawled on the floor. Crystal's first impulse was to merely step over them and be on her way while they slept it off. She only made it a few paces before she stopped and, after shutting off her optics for a moment, she turned around and gathered up the two inebriated cassettes. She draped Frenzy over her shoulder and carried Rumble's limp form with her other hand before setting off to Soundwave's workshop.

As expected, Soundwave was in there and was probably the only sober Decepticon on the base at the moment. He looked up when Crystal entered and marched the two cassettes towards the recharge berth, dropping them on top of it. Ravage, was already curled up on it. He growled a little at being disturbed, but otherwise made no movement.

When she got up, she noticed Soundwave watching her from the doorway. The two looked at each other for a moment.

"What?" she asked, annoyed at the constant silent act he always gave her. "Do you have something for your _property_ to do?"

She was still sore about him calling her that. For a while, she had almost thought he hadn't tried to hurt her because he was nicer than the other Decepticons. It seemed he was just protecting something he considered to be a personal article that he possessed. Like trying to keep your rowdy friends from busting your gaming system. It wasn't that you saw the equipment as alive, but that you didn't want people breaking your stuff. That was all.

He seemed less alive than she did and _she_ was the property. She really wished the Decepticons would stop pretending she was some thing they just found on the floor and decided to keep. She was a prisoner, a slave, not a Roomba that you just turn on and it cleans for you.

When Soundwave didn't provide a response, Crystal assumed he didn't need her for anything. She brushed past him and marched out the door. Soundwave watched her go, but didn't follow.

* * *

Optimus Prime looked up from his desk when his one o'clock appointment showed up. Not very often did an Autobot actually make an appointment with him. Usually, if an Autobot required his attention, they would just track him down and talk to him. But Perceptor was used to how things were run on Cybertron. Up there, commanders like Ultra Magnus stayed pretty busy with all sorts of meetings. One had to schedule in proper time to see them.

So Optimus Prime let Perceptor schedule his meeting and made sure he was available at his desk right at 1 o'clock sharp.

There was a polite knock on the open door's frame, right on time, and Optimus nodded the scientist in. "Hello Perceptor, so what can I do for you?"

"Optimus Prime, sir, I have a report for you. I'm aware Prowl usually receives all the paperwork, but I thought it best you see the findings for yourself before you authorize its release to your seconds."

"Really..." Optimus was now interested and possibly a little concerned over what Perceptor had on his data files. "What is this report about?"

The scientist handed the data over as he explained. "Shortly before Crystal's abduction, I performed a series of scans on her programming when she made a few rather odd complaints."

"Complaints such as...?"

"Nervous twitching and involuntary muscle spasms."

Optimus nodded. He tried glancing through the report, but the technical jargon was a little too advanced for him.

"I have been studying the results of those tests and I have landed upon a conclusion," Perceptor continued. "Crystal's mental capacity for her physical relays is slowly breaking down. Now, I'm not yet sure of the actual cause, but my theory is that the marriage between her downloaded organic brain and her physical neural processor aren't quite meshing the way they should.  
Possibly because of the lower level of technology used to build her body.

"Of course, neither Ratchet nor Wheeljack could have predicted such a thing. The transfer of organic to technological is still a brand new science and we all have much to learn until it's perfected."

"So you are saying Crystal's body isn't advanced enough to support her brain properly," Optimus surmised. "How would that problem be solved?"

"She needs an upgrade, Optimus. Either a massive transplant of several internal systems and relays, or a transfer to an entirely new body."

"I see. And without this upgrade, what will happen to her?"

"If her condition goes unchecked, she will slowly start losing control of her physical functions: arm and leg movement, speech, sight, and so on. Eventually she will lose all ability to respond to the outside world. Then it will start to deteriorate her internal motherboard and processor. Basically, her brain will eventually die and then so will she."

Optimus put down the data pad and steepled his fingers. "This is... not good news. How long until she reaches this critical condition?"

"At the rate that she was going, the deterioration process was exceedingly slow. I would have given it two or three Earth years before her situation became so dangerous to her health that there might be permanent damage. However, that was if she had continued to live with the Autobots. Her condition advances faster when she is in high-stress situations..."

"Like being a prisoner of the Decepticons for two months," Optimus finished for him.

"Indeed," Perceptor confirmed. "That is, if she is still alive and functioning under their care. Which is why I thought I should report this directly to you first. IF she is still alive, she is in danger from within, not just without. However, I am not going to make the call as to whether the rest of us should risk our lives on a rescue attempt that may or may not result in success. Not to mention, I know Prowl has been carefully calculating his own plan of action for weeks. I did not want a hasty reaction in his schedule because of these findings. I will leave it up to you, Optimus, on who you give this information to."

Optimus was silent for several moments. "Who else knows this information?"

"No one, Optimus."

"None?"

"No, sir. Forgive me, but I feel ill-equipped to make any judgment calls and, frankly, I do not want the responsibility."

Optimus vented out a long puff of warm air. He didn't really want this responsibility either. "Thank you, Perceptor. I will do the best I can with this information."

"I'm sure you will," the scientist nodded. "Forgive me for leaving you in this position."

Optimus waved away the apology and dismissed Perceptor. When the door closed behind him, Optimus looked at the report again. This was a grim revelation indeed. As if there weren't enough ethical questions floating around as it was.

Immediately, his thoughts turned towards Prowl. Optimus had been the one to mobilize and direct the first attack on the Nemesis. After that mission had flopped, the stunned Autobot leader was left feeling aimless as to the next course of action. Megatron's reaction to the attack had been uncharacteristic, leaving no clues as to what he knew or what he had done. Without that information, Optimus was at a loss as to formulating a plan of retaliation.

Prowl insisted on taking the reins after that and Optimus happily let him have them. Optimus Prime had been a leader in the Autobot/Decepticon war for years. He knew how to be a leader, how to organize troops and design plans for attack and defense. But Prowl was on a completely different level.

He knew how to predict the actions of the enemies better than anyone with whom Optimus had ever worked. Jazz had once joked that Prowl must have been Decepticon once himself to read them so well. Prowl hadn't appreciated that comment at all.

Every action that had been taken against the Decepticons since the retreat from the Nemesis had been all Prowl. Optimus was happy to let him be the point man on this. He had gone where Prowl told him to, even to the extent of facing one of Megatron's raiding parties under Prowl's direct orders. He very much approved of his second's plan to starve the Decepticons out. It was a good plan and, if they were lucky, would leave them all with the smallest possible number of casualties.

But with this, Perceptor's worry of this report expediting the plan may be correct. But the decision to continue this girl's life had been Prowl's. Optimus thought it appropriate that he decide now what to do. He would also let his fellow Autobots decide whether or not they wanted to fight. He would not force any who were unwilling to risk their lives for an uncertain rescue.

As for him, whatever Prowl wanted, for all the times his second had followed him blindly into the fray, Optimus Prime would do it.

* * *

It had been maybe a day or two since the party had started at the Nemesis. It was so hard to tell time in the underwater base. Crystal had no idea if the Decepticons were still passed out or drinking it up some more. One thing was for sure, they certainly knew how to have a good time with their energon. She, however, was not going to be caught inebriated with them. They may be in a gay disposition now, but letting those heavy machines stumble around her was not a good idea.

Instead, she went back to her usual chores. It was really all she wanted to do. The plentiful energy supply calmed the waters for now and seemed to keep her safe, but she still didn't want any part of the Decepticons, in good times or in bad. So she spent her hours roaming the corridors of the Nemesis, looking for anything she could do with herself.

Her meanderings took her all the way back down to the lowest level again. Crystal had been trying to avoid it since her first time, but all the other levels were running in tiptop shape. It was this or nothing.

This was the level that had been flooded knee deep with seawater and Crystal had spent a very miserable and claustrophobic time draining it and cleaning it up. Now, after trying not to go down there for so long, she was praying it wasn't flooded again.

To her pleasant surprise, the level looked good. There was a small puddle gathering in the middle, but definitely not as bad as the first time. Before she started on that, Crystal wandered the whole level, seeing what else there was to do. In one area, it inclined upward. Crystal had never been that far because it was too high to get the water damage and Megatron had shown up to fetch her the moment she was finished.

Without anyone to dictate whether or not she was allowed in this area, Crystal wandered right into it. It was mostly more of the same: long halls and doorways. But at the end, there was the door to the smaller internal elevator. It couldn't fit as many as the main one that led up to the launch tower. Crystal used it often to get from one level to the other. She had had no idea it went all the way to the bottom floor. At least, there wasn't a button for it that she had noticed.

Right next to the elevator doors was a much, much larger pair of doors. From the looks of them, they led to some kind of massive storage room. Great. That was certainly going to take a while to clean. But then again, she had all the time in the world and was looking for something to do.

Little did she know, that if she had come across this door at any other time, she would not have been able to access it. It was kept strictly locked at all times. But it just so happened that on this particular day, just a few minutes before, one of the Decepticons had used this door and completely forgotten to lock it behind himself.

Crystal pushed the open button and the doors slid back. Exposed to her view was no storage room, but a long, dark tunnel.

She was confused at first by what she found, but then Crystal realized what it was and her whole body went numb. The Decepticons had several jets in their numbers, but they had even more car types. And, of course, they had to find their way to land somehow. This tunnel led out of the base and out of the ocean to freedom.

Almost panicked, Crystal looked around her, waiting for Decepticons to pop out of the shadows and drag her back. No one came. The entire level was empty.

Crystal stared down the tunnel again, her fuel pump beating like mad. Did she dare to try? Did she dare to hope again?

Opening her chest panel, Crystal slipped a hand in and easily removed the Decepticon tracking device they had implanted in her. It was their mistake to assume she was like them. Decepticons didn't bother to even know much about their own inner workings, but Crystal knew all her systems inside and out. She looked at the small device in her shaking palm. Then she clutched it tight and tossed it down the hall, close to the puddle that was still on the floor.

She turned and ran.

As fast as she could, as far as she could, Crystal fled down the massive tunnel. It was so dark she had to turn on her night vision. She ran and ran for several minutes, several miles, her robot legs not yet giving out. It occurred to her how much easier this would be if she had a car mode of her own. When she got back, she was totally going to push those Autobots to make her that new body fast. They owed her for this. She didn't care what their excuse was for not finding her, she was going to wrap her arms around the first Autobot she could get a hold of and just cling there until...

Crystal slowed as the tunnel opened up into a much, much larger room. In here, a few lights were on, enough to light one's way around. It was circular, with a high ceiling and a massive shuttle-like vehicle parked in the middle. It sported an Autobot symbol on the side. It was the shuttle they had stolen from Ultra Magnus. So that's where they were keeping it.  
To her alarm, the docking ramp of the shuttle was down and there were lights on inside. Somebody was here. She couldn't be found. There had to be a way out of here. Frantically, Crystal skirted the wall, searching all the way around for evidence of a door or some other exit. There had to be a way out.

To her infinite relief, she found one, hidden almost seamlessly in the wall. This had to lead out to freedom. She pushed the button, her whole body shaking with anticipation. The button turned red, signaling the door was locked.

Crystal shook her head in disbelief.

No. No, no, no, no, no. This couldn't be happening.

She fumbled for a screwdriver from her hip compartment, dropped it, and then attempted to take apart the control panel. Several times she had to stop to collect herself, her hands were shaking so badly. Finally, she managed to remove the cover and expose the wires. She fingered through them, trying to figure out which wire was connected to what. She had to make sure she got the right wire the first time. If the security system detected that it was being tampered with, it would lock itself down completely and she would have no hope of getting the door open, short of cutting the thing right out of the wall.

Finally, Crystal located the wires she needed. She carefully stripped the cover from the wires and gave them a small jolt. The panel beeped and she heard a click from the door as it unlocked. She almost cried, she was so relieved.

As she returned her tools to her hip compartment, a heavy hand fell on her shoulder and if Crystal had the ability to faint, she probably would have done so right there.

"Well, well, what have you been up to?" It was none other than Megatron himself.

Crystal's shoulder slumped and her arms fell lifeless to her sides. Well, she had given it her best shot. Now Megatron was going to kill her for sure.

For now, he threw her at Soundwave, who was standing next to him and gave an order of "Bring her" as he marched toward the open loading dock of the shuttle. Soundwave kept a solid grip on Crystal's shoulder as they both followed him up into the well-lit hull.

Thundercracker and Skywarp stood in the command room of the shuttle, both aiming their weapons at an extremely miffed Starscream.

"Starscream," Megatron greeted sarcastically. "What a surprise that you would be behind this plot to steal my shuttle. I've been aware someone had been skimming off the top of our energon storage for some time."

"And here," he motioned to Crystal. "I found your accomplice."

"I don't work for him!" Crystal barked. If she was going to die, she was at least going to be killed for the right reason. "That son of a bitch almost had me killed!"

"That's because you're absolutely useless," Starscream shot back.

"_Useless_?" Now Crystal was wholly offended. "I have kept your whole damn base running despite the fact that all of you tear it up on a daily basis. Not to mention I gave you the means to power your sorry asses and this ship."

All three seekers looked surprised. They obviously were not aware of that fact.

"Enough petty squabbling," Megatron announced. "Starscream, tell me what you intend to do with my space shuttle. Now."

Starscream's earlier look of objection at Crystal's words now settled into stubborn silence in the face of his leader. This was his plan. No one else was ever supposed to know and he was not willing to share.

It hadn't been the first time Starscream had clammed up on him. Megatron was prepared.

"Soundwave, search him."

Leaving Crystal to Skywarp, Soundwave advanced and the seeker suddenly looked scared. Having information sucked right out of your memory files by Soundwave was not a pleasant experience. Not to mention the fact that once he had ahold of you, he could see anything he wanted. One's past, dreams, hopes, plans, experiences... anything. As much as Starscream had put into this plan, it was not worth that degree of personal invasion. Especially when he still had so much more to hide.

"No, no! Stay back!" Starscream squawked. "I'll tell you, just stay away!"

Megatron nodded and Soundwave halted his advance.

"I needed the shuttle for a space mission," Starscream said nervously. "There's something out there. I've been watching it for years." He carefully pushed a button on the shuttle's console and the massive screen in the front turned on. It showed a large map of space, with Earth as a mere speck compared to it all. In the vast darkness, something blipped.

"This," Starscream pointed to the light on the map. "I need the space jump technology of the shuttle to get to this."

Megatron stepped closer. "What is it?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Starscream admitted. "But I have been monitoring it for almost ten Earth years. What I can tell you is that it is mechanical and it is very slowly making its way through space."

Megatron frowned. "Idiot, what does it matter? You are wasting your time on such a thing."

Starscream smirked. "Am I? All this time that I have been watching it, I have noticed that it's energy signature never grows or diminishes. Ever."

"Meaning?" Megatron growled, losing his patience.

Starscream huffed. "Must I explain everything to you? It _means _whatever this is, it never grows low on energy and never refuels."

A light was starting to come on in Megatron's optics.

"Yes," Starscream encouraged. "A limitless power supply. Imagine what we could do with that, Megatron."

"What the Decepticons could do with it," Megatron corrected.

"Oh-oh yes! Of _course_, Mighty Megatron! You know I do everything only to serve the Decepticon cause." He bowed low and Skywarp made the equivocal motion of rolling his optics at the display.

Megatron didn't notice. He was drowning in the excitement of victory so close to his fingertips. "Soundwave, radio the Constructicons. Tell them to load the shuttle with energy and supplies."

Megatron turned his head to look right at Crystal. Any hope she had of being left out of this little adventure was dashed when he grinned at her.

"We're going on a little trip."

* * *

Artists Notes: First of all, as always, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my massive series this far. And an extra thanks for anyone who took the time to send me comments. I was very surprised how well this story was received at the beginning. Near the end, I got fewer comments than when I started, but I'm hoping that was more because it's now finals time and not because people were getting tired of it.  
I'm relieved to have this fic finished. Ten plus years ago, I wrote a similar fic to this one and the Decepticon kidnapping stage of the fic was where I lost my steam. So now, as I attempted to rewrite this story, I really worried the same thing would happen again. But the support I got from you guys really helped to keep me excited about the story and I really enjoyed getting these chapters out to you as fast as I could. So thank you again for the support, it really helped me out.

Now is the time when I really beg for reviews. This fic is over and I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on the story as a whole. I know I've had a great time learning a little bit about the Decepticons. I didn't know them well at all before this so it was a learning experience for me as I got to know them better.

I know, I left it on another cliffhanger, but that is how I get people to follow me to the next story. This next one has a good chance of being the final story in the series and it's going to be quite large. I thought about splitting it up into two stories, but I think we'll just make it one massive fic. And now that set up is over, it's going to be one big ball of plot and action and I'm quite excited to get to it. Some of you may think you have the plot figured out now, but I'm hoping there will still be a few surprises for you along the way. And I'm very much looking forward to play with more characters I haven't been able to touch on yet. *cough*femaleautobots*cough*

I'm going to take a few weeks to plot out this monster and make sure I have all my ducks in a row and then we'll get started. As always, I look forward to seeing everyone there and thank you once again!


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